Bridging the gap: improving integration between duty holders involved in well operations
Claire Hick A * , Mark Bourne A , Tom Barratt A and Derrick O’Keeffe AA National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), Perth, WA, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 63 S188-S191 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22089
Accepted: 16 March 2023 Published: 11 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
Major incidents often culminate from complex human, technical, organisational and regulatory factors. Risk mitigation is rarely the responsibility of only one party, and deficiencies in communication and integration between contractual parties continue to be a contributing factor in incidents. Duty holders involved in well construction and intervention should continually seek to improve their coordination and communication, particularly with respect to change management, risk management and well control. This paper describes the criticality of the rig contractor/operator relationship and describes available tools that should be used to ensure gaps are identified and addressed in the planning phase.
Keywords: API Bulletin 97, blowout, bridging document, contract management, rig contractor/operator relationship, risk management, well construction interface management, well control, well integrity.
Claire Hick is a Well Integrity Specialist at NOPSEMA. Prior to joining NOPSEMA in 2016, Claire gained 17 years’ industry experience in Australia, Europe and Africa in drilling, production, well integrity and interface coordination, both onshore and offshore. Her interface and risk coordination roles have given her insight into issues associated with multiple contractual parties working together to manage risks. Claire holds a Bachelor of Resource Engineering – Oil and Gas (Hons) from the UWA. |
Mark Bourne is a Well Integrity Specialist who has worked at NOPSEMA since 2014. Prior to joining NOPSEMA, Mark had 26 years of upstream oil and gas industry experience, working on- and offshore in Australia, Holland, Germany, Libya and Qatar. Mark worked his way up through various drilling operations and engineering roles to Senior Drilling Operations Engineer with a major operating company, in which role he was the primary interface between management, geoscience, engineering, the rig and third-party services. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Wolverhampton in Applied Sciences. |
Tom Barratt was appointed NOPSEMA’s Well Integrity Manager in June 2022, following 25 years in the oil and gas industry across exploration, development, production and decommissioning sectors of the upstream business in Australia, UK, Norway, Ireland and Denmark. His roles have included leading multidisciplinary teams to enhance production and improve well integrity management. Tom holds a BSc (Hons.) in Engineering (Chemical) from RMIT University in Melbourne. |
Derrick O’Keeffe is the Head of Safety and Integrity for NOPSEMA, Australia’s independent offshore regulator. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemical Engineering and an MBA. He has 37 years of engineering, commercial, management and Director experience in oil and gas in Australia, Iran, UAE, Bangladesh, Africa, USA and the UK. Derrick is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, life member and past President of the Petroleum Club of Western Australia, where he contributes to short courses on petroleum. He is a regular witness at Australian Government parliamentary senate hearings and inquiries. |
References
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