Oil & Gas drilling operations are currently challenging but now is the very time when companies should prepare for a business upturn which will be triggered by a more stable oil price. We have experienced or heard about the impact of the low oil price on oil & gas service companies this past year. The market conditions inherently forced those companies to analyze their cost base in order to remain competitive. The measures taken to remain competitive have been very broad.Companies have “let go” some of their most experienced personnel many of whom mentor to the new generation of engineers. As a result we are seeing more errors being made when assembling tools for well operations. Some companies have moved the sourcing materials and components to cheaper/untested suppliers to be able to bid competitively but this has increased risk. Companies are increasingly reusing or modify existing equipment and tools. With less new equipment being bought and with maintenance schedules being extended there has been a corresponding increase in failures. This impacted on logistics with equipment/tools being delayed in getting released from one job to go to another. Similar impacts have been seen at the manufacturing level be it in the major OCTG plants or with drilling tool/equipment manufacturers. All the evidence is pointing to more defective product passing through the supply chain.
To further compound the issue, as oil & gas companies drive to reduce costs, important inspection intervention levels are being reduced. All of these factors are putting stresses on drilling operations making the elimination of NPT a real challenge. However, the cost of drilling QA services at all levels from shop floor to drill floor quickly pays for itself versus the cost of NPT.
RINA has the right experts who have the competencies and experience to address the challenges that the oil & gas industry faces providing valued added services which will significantly reduce NPT incidents. Whether the need is for an Inspector in a drilling equipment/tools manufacturing shop, an OCTG Inspector in a pipemill manufacturer or specialist personnel such as Completion Engineers or Well ops Supervisors on the drill floor RINA can help.
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