Maintenance: Key to Production: Proper rig care spells less down time for oil producers.

• Author: White, Rindi

From spearing new prehistoric pools of crude oil to reworking a field to extract oil deposits previously untapped, drilling rigs are the machines that power the oil and gas industry. But, like any machine, they require significant maintenance and care to keep operating at maximum efficiency.

That's one goal, says Luke Lawrence, wells manager for ConocoPhillips Alaska. And it's an important one.

"For us, time is money. If the rig is efficient and is able to operate during the time we've planned it to operate, that's better business for us. We do a lot of auditing and checking on how [rig owners] go about their maintenance processes. In our evaluation of a competitive tender, that's part of what we look at," Lawrence says.

A properly maintained rig is also safer for employees-that's why the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development sets out Petroleum Drilling and Production Standards that specify proper operating conditions and prescribe various maintenance standards.

But how does it play out in the oil field? Who actually does the maintenance? And what does it take to do it?

Lawrence says his company--a producer--generally contracts with a rig operator, like Doyon Drilling, Nabors, or Nordic Calista. He likens it to a rental car agreement: ConocoPhillips is renting the rig, but the rig owner is responsible for ongoing maintenance.

The length of each contract varies according to use: a rig used for an exploration program might be under a seasonal contract, while a rig used for working over an old field might have a longer contract.

"In Alaska, we typically have what we consider long-term contracts. Maybe they run for a few years or have options to extend them," Lawrence says. "That can vary according to where you are in the world; some might be for one well, others might be for a scope of 'x' wells, others might be time-based."

The drillers, for their part, design and create rigs specifically for use in Alaska. Nordic Calista, for example, designs its own rigs and contracts with specialty rig engineering and manufacturing companies in the United States and Canada to develop each rig to Nordic's specifications. Nordic Calista General Manager Udo Cassee says the company has four rigs capable of doing well maintenance (called workovers) drilling or exploration work on the North Slope. Maintenance rigs typically operate year-round, he says, while exploration rigs often have shorter contracts.

Proper Maintenance Is the Best Insurance

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