No matter how well constructed, anything manmade ultimately needs to be maintained and cared for or things begin to fall apart, especially if exposed to the elements. Oil and gas well rigs and their related parts are no exception and, in many cases, take a much harder beating given that they are fully exposed to their environments as well. This is where repair and maintenance by specialized teams come into play, providing the critical help needed to keep things running on an ongoing basis. The demand is growing, especially as more rigs come online in 2021.
Intervention specialists are key to gas and oil rig maintenance. They generally handle services with two types of needs: light maintenance and heavy intervention. With the light approach, things are still in operation and working, pressure is capped at the service level, and much of the work is basically to provide system checks, mechanical refreshing on moving parts and lubrication, and safety checks. With heavy maintenance, activities very often involve full or partial shutdowns of operations as well as capital equipment swap-outs or replacement. That can also be the case when operating rigs need to be permanently decommissioned as well; these huge units don’t turn themselves off.
Much of the light maintenance is geared towards preventative work. Activities tend to focus on clearing lines and making sure buildup or residuals are not creating the dynamics for potential line blockages and equipment failure as a result. On the other hand, entire sections and critical equipment removal tend to be the typical assignment scope for heavy maintenance. These require highly skilled teams with heavy experience and already a good amount of time having learned the ropes with light maintenance before ever taking on anything serious level.
Well intervention services are also geared to be operating where the work needs to be done. Given this primary aspect of the assignment, teams spend a good amount of time on site, under remote conditions, and working under specialized conditions. That requires heavily trained knowledge and skill in their roles and the ability to solve problems efficiently with creative work that still meets high standards of rig operations and repair.
As a primary player in well intervention services, PRT Offshore is an example of a professional-grade response team, both for regular maintenance and preventative work as well as critical damage response or heavy repair. Gas and oil rigs will always remain under high pressure to keep operating and maximize their efficiency in harvesting, but it takes a qualified intervention plan to maintain that level of performance.
