INDUSTRY
The Future of Well-Monitoring is Digital By: Roel Jansen
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in remote areas of the world. Different teams must collaborate, often in dangerous, unpredictable environments. Understandably, site visits to these locations are infrequent. Digital technology can make maintenance and well integrity monitoring simpler and better. Indeed, it already has—in those areas of the world where there’s infrastructure, reliable connectivity, or easy access to wells. With infrastructure, wells can be monitored using wired technologies that provide accurate and up-to-date data. These “wired systems” provide reliable data, so your team can look out for threats in wells, and respond with targeted maintenance. The problem? These wired solutions are expensive. Setting up a wired system takes months and halts production so you can build out the necessary procedures, train your team, and do a lot of testing. This is why they aren’t a realistic solution for most businesses or use cases—especially those in remote areas. Instead, companies are forced to send engineers out to wells every few weeks (or months)
Digital technology can make maintenance and well integrity monitoring simpler and better. to take diagnostic readings. These trips are also expensive: costing between $500 and $40,000, depending on the well location, crew size, and type of trip. So, what are your options if you can’t install a wired connection, or don’t want to send out teams of valuable engineers on hazardous journeys to inhospitable locations? You could use cellular networks, but only if your wells are in a place where there is cellular service. Despite what the wireless carriers
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odern oil companies are going digital. To accomplish that, they are looking for easy-to-install, easy-to-use solutions that solve an immediate problem using cost-effective digital technology. Those three attributes—easy to install, easy to use, and cost-effective—are reshaping well monitoring, and by extension the oil and gas industry as a whole. Well-monitoring may not be exciting, but it’s one of the most important jobs in the business. As the world’s wells age and regulations become stricter, there’s increasing pressure to properly maintain wells. A study by McGill University found that Canada is underestimating methane emissions from its abandoned wells by as much as 150% and that official US emissions estimates are 20% below actual levels. Well-monitoring prevents chronic problems from becoming acute disasters. It keeps your company’s name out of the headlines. But just because it’s important work doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, it’s usually hard going, especially
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SHALE MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022
