An international major with significant operations in Oman contacted ONZ with concerns on their ongoing and increasing number of downhole tool failures from their DD MLWD vendors, and to understand their options in helping reduce or resolve their issues. After review of the historic issues, as well as understanding the types of wells and drilling challenges that the operator was facing, the recommendation was to carry out an in country audit of two separate DD MLWD vendors. The audit was carried out over the course of a week, with visits to three separate facilities over two different countries, and focused on the 7 Elements of MorpheusTM; Organisation, People, Knowledge, Facilities, Equipment, Maintenance and HSE.  

As well as being trained ISO9001:2015 (QMS) lead auditors, our consultants have vendor specific training and experience in well construction operations. From drilling (DD) and logging (MLWD) tools and equipment, reliability and maintenance systems and processes, R&M facility set up and management, to QMS creation and implementation. This allows us to carry out audits that are not as diffuse as a QMS documentation audit, and instead offer bespoke concentrate audits that focus on the exact issues, business practices, equipment requirements and organisational challenges that face todays DD MLWD providers. This targeted, specific audit has been honed to focus on the underlying problems that vendors face, as well as offer tangible and achievable solutions to many of the issues.

Reviewing the findings with both the vendors and the client, allowed a collaborative ‘one team’ approach to performance improvement, with suggestions and proposed solutions discussed in an open and honest discussion. Buy in from the vendor is crucial to any audit, as simply highlighting wrongs and not working together to find solutions can often lead to negative audit experiences.  

As a result of the audit findings, discussions, recommendations and importantly accepted changes, the overall service quality performance from both of the DD MLWD vendors improved on the client operations to significant degrees. This SQ increase, as well as overall well performance increase (less TFF, lower AFEs) was significantly greater than the cost to perform the M.O.R.P.H.E.U.S Audit TM  resulting in an exceptional cost benefit ratio.

Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) is a proactive maintenance strategy that involves monitoring the actual condition of an asset to decide what maintenance needs to be done. Unlike traditional maintenance approaches, which might rely on fixed schedules (e.g., maintenance carried out after every run, or every X months, regardless if the tool is used), CBM focuses on performing maintenance only when it is needed, based on conditions that a tool has been exposed to.

• Condition Monitoring: This is the backbone of CBM. It involves monitoring tools to assess the condition of equipment. Parameters like pumping hours, vibration frequency and amplitude,  temperature cycles and maximum temperatures, and other relevant indicators are tracked.
• Data Analysis: The data collected from monitoring equipment is analysed to determine the expected condition of the asset. Depending on the downhole conditions experienced, any two tool may have wildly different usage. Shallow benign drilling with low vibrations will have less of an impact on tools which have been exposed to harsh environment drilling at higher temperatures.  
• Maintenance Decision: Records of the tool usage and environmental conditions is then analysed to define the subsequent maintenance to be performed. A key objective is to perform informed ‘smart’ maintenance before a downhole failure occurs. Balancing the frequency of component changes and thus cost, against the likelihood of component fatigue and failure (and thus NPT) is critical when optimizing CBM maintenance plans.

• Reduced Downtime: Since maintenance is only performed when necessary, there’s less downtime compared to scheduled maintenance.
• Cost Savings: By avoiding unnecessary maintenance, resources are better utilized, and costs are reduced.
• Extended Equipment Life: CBM helps in identifying issues before they lead to major failures, which can extend the life of the equipment.

Alternatively, some vendors employ a “Run to Failure” (RTF) principal for their maintenance schedules. RTF is considered to be a reactive maintenance strategy, where equipment is operated and components only changed out when a part or sub component fails its testing requirements, before any maintenance is performed. During tool maintenance, testing is carried out and unless there are signs of a component performing badly, or signs that it is deteriorating (e.g. changes in expected voltages or sensor responses), then generally no parts are replaced proactively. This approach stands in contrast to preventive maintenance, where components ‘life’ will be tracked, and parts changed out in advance of their expected failure date, regardless if the part is passing all testing.