When economic times are tough, we are relying so heavily on the high producing sites to continue to produce oil at a reasonably low operating cost. We know this and we also know that when shut-ins happen, the last thing we want is for a high producer to go down.
We have technology and methods available to us today that we have not had before and it is important to utilize all tools available and develop a big picture approach when looking to keep high producing wells running without unplanned shut downs.
The Heater Treater is such a critical part of the well site and it must stay running to separate and treat the oil in order to get it sold. If a fire tube fails, the well is going to be down for a couple of days. The lost revenue alone is a huge hit to the income because not a lot of sites are up and running.
Fire tube inspections are key to preventing this. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the condition the fire tube is in so you can eliminate unexpected downtime? To me it seems like a no brainer and should be a valuable tool used to help in planning maintenance.
When the fire tube scanning technology spots the corrosion, we are able to then manage it. Targeted maintenance can then begin by determining what other critical tasks need to be completed while the well is down. This allows time to PLAN and implement the most effective system possible to keep the maintenance costs low and at the same time keeping the shut in time to a minimum.
Proactive measures can also be put in place at this time to plan for the next event. The Scanning System goes hand in hand with cathodic protection and monitoring. That is a discussion for another day.
For today, it is critical to look at the high producing sites and figure out how to keep downtime to an absolute minimum.