Well Integrity Management System (WIMS)

Well Integrity Management System or WIMS is a software application for data collection, handling and reporting of well integrity, which enables a uniform and structured approach for describing the status and handling of well integrity issues throughout the production phase of a well. It was developed by ExproSoft through a JIP (Joint Industry Project) with Norsk Hydro, Statoil (now Statoil) and Total E&P UK in 2006-2007. After that WIMS has been commercially available to all. WIMS 2.0 was released in June 2008 and WIMS 3.0 was released 2010.

History

In 2002, the Norwegian petroleum authorities passed new legislation which mandates the continuous monitoring of well integrity status. At the same time the NORSOK D-010 and API RP 90 (Management of Sustained Casing Pressure on Offshore Wells) standards have been released, covering important recommendations for well integrity management. Additionally, the increased number of mature fields poses new challenges with regard to well integrity, e.g. old wells with sustained casing pressure, lack of "as-is" documentation and high-risk workovers. Therefore, a JIP was formed to tackle these challenges by developing a systems to manage their well integrity. The resulting software is called WIMS, short for Well Integrity Management System. A pilot version was installed and tested by the operators’ spring 2007, prior to the release of the final version.

Functions

Well integrity is about the barriers that are in place during the lifecycle of the well. The barriers assure containment and prevent outflow of hydrocarbons to protect people, the environment and other assets. The primary purpose of WIMS is to provide an in-house tool to store and present all relevant information necessary for decision making within well integrity.

Key indicators

WIMS includes key indicators to enable continuous documentation of well integrity status. These indicators come predefined, but can easily be redefined to fit company requirements. The predefined key indicators are split into several status codes and give the user the means to properly describe the well situation. The predefined codes are: Integrity status, Well barrier status, Annuli status, Valve status, Life cycle status.

Integrity status

The well risk status indicates the level of risk the well has been assessed to have. The integrity status is derived from risk assessment of the wells condition.

Well barrier status

The two barrier principle is followed in Norway, and in most oil producing nations. This principle implies that at least two independent and testable well barrier envelopes shall exist in a well. In WIMS the status of each of these well barriers, defined as the primary and the secondary, is documented.

Annuli status

When an abnormal pressure behavior is detected and identified as a leak to an annulus, the annuli status should be assessed and the status changed. Pressure build up may be caused by e.g. a casing leak or micro annuli.

Valve status

The valve status indicates the status of the safety valves in a well. These barrier elements are periodically tested and will constitute a major part of the well barrier. Customized reports on test information and test performance indicators are available as an add-on module.

Well monitoring

WIMS retrieve and present data from automatic and manual sensor readings available for the well, e.g. automatic A- and B-annulus pressure readings and manual C-annulus pressure readings. In addition to pressure, temperature, choke position, wing valve position may be retrieved.

Well details

WIMS can in many ways be described as a portal to information relevant to well integrity management. As part of this, WIMS has included a category with typical background information to be used as input in well integrity assessments, e.g. completion data, handover documentation, completion schematics etc. In addition, the well details category is used to define the alarm limits in the well. These can either be connected automatically from existing systems or entered manually.

Non-conformance logs

WIMS includes the possibility to connect to company systems used for handling well derogations, and presents this in a structured manner. As such, users can quickly get an overview of all active derogations for a well without having to open other systems. This is another example of how WIMS functions as a portal for well integrity.

Reports

An important part of WIMS is the ability to generate reports. In order to accommodate the different requirements, WIMS can easily be configured to generate customized reports. This combined with the ability to connect to and extract information in various company databases makes WIMS a very flexible reporting tool.

Add-on modules

Several add-on modules are available, e.g. Scale management and Tubing deformation. These modules will be customized to requirements.