System of Integrated Service for Coiled Tubing Units

Every oil and gas service company is seeking not only to competently carry out selection and purchase of equipment to fulfill strategic objectives but also to maximize efficiency at minimum cost during operation of this equipment.

The most significant factors affecting the operation efficiency are:

- maximum use of all features of the equipment;

- adaptation of technology to the features of oil and gas equipment, including use of an integrated fleet of different types of equipment, tools and accessories;

 - timely scheduled maintenance of equipment;

 - qualifications of personnel operating the equipment;

 - timely repairs, including modernization.

 While the first two factors are regularly covered by “Coiled Tubing Times” magazine other aspects of operation are covered quite rarely, so we want to fill this information gap. All the examples given in this article will be dealt with at the example of the production of coiled tubing units by NOV FIDMASH.

 Timely maintenance is directed at maintenance of the equipment in good working condition and reduction of wear, increase of durability of the assemblies by timely troubleshooting.

 Despite the fact that modern coiled tubing equipment is very reliable the laws of physics, unfortunately, cannot be defeated by manufacturers, so the basic steps in maintenance aim at:

  - lubrication of elements;

 - change of hydraulic oils (the reason is related to two factors: 1) loss of physical and chemical properties, 2) gradual contamination of oils due to ingress of wear elements of hydraulic system (switchgear, plunger pairs of hydraulic pumps and motors);

 - change of filter elements;

 - verification of reliability of mutual attachment of separate elements; checks of wear of fast wearing items (seals, injector chains, plates, as well as elements that have limited service life) and, where appropriate, their replacement;

 - checks for and elimination of leakages of process fluids and checks of their respective levels;

 - check and maintenance of components requiring separate routine maintenance in accordance with individual schemes (MZKT base chassis, gearboxes, engines, batteries, air hydraulic accumulators, etc.).

All of these methods of performing the above works are described in details in operating manuals supplied with the equipment:

 - coiled tubing equipment (for example, for MK30T—10.00.00.000 РЭ);

 - individual categorised parts such as injector, BOP, stripper, etc. (for example, for the injector — M20B.51.00.000-50 ПС);

 - base chassis (for example, for the MZKT base chassis — 65276-000010-РЭ).

All actions for routine maintenance must be planned and documented. While documentation uses  standardized documents (forms for equipment and for individual components), the process of planning is different for each operating organisation, but the goal of the planning process is the same — to minimize the time of the equipment under repair, to pre-plan labor and financial resources, procurement of materials and spare parts.

NOV FIDMASH as a manufacturer actively renders assistance in joint development of maintenance plans and actively participates both in the works and in the diagnostics and advice for customers.

Developing these plans we rely on the following:

- planned load of equipment (annual work plans of the customer);

- standard consumption of fuels and oils and spare parts to carry out routine maintenance (maintenance documentation);

 - internal man-hour norms for works by NOV FIDMASH.

NOV FIDMASH as a manufacturer with separate service units offers a comprehensive approach to service support to its customers:

 - full range of services from diagnostics of equipment, work planning to capital repair and modernization within the frames of annual contract for services and supply of spare parts;

 - organisation of warehouse minimum stock of spare parts as agreed with the customer (including spare parts for the base chassis);

 - scheduled delivery of spare parts, consumables (including coiled tubing);

 - flexible system of payment for delivered parts;

 - organization of comprehensive training both at manufacturer’s premises and directly at customer’s location.

We would also like to focus on the training of customer’s personnel. First of all, certain restrictions are imposed by national legislation on vocational training, such as:

- training and issuing certificates (diplomas) is possible only if appropriate permissions (licenses) are obtained from the ministries of education, which limits the manufacturers in appropriate training;

- not fully implemented interstate system of mutual recognition of issued diplomas (certificates) in different national systems (Belarus, Russia, etc.).

However, to resolve this situation there is a number of effective approaches focused on the needs of the customer:

- organization of primary training at regional training facility. In this case we provide customer’s regional training center with special education program, representatives of our company are involved in the training process as lecturers in specialized technical topics and customer’s equipment is used for practical classes. Because of such organization of training customer’s specialists get their diplomas (certificates) in the national system;

- organization of advanced training courses at manufacturer’s production base. In this case we independently carry out advanced courses and training for customer’s specialists aimed at deep study of the features of design, operation and maintenance of the equipment. We also provide training to exercise practical skills. For these purposes the testing equipment is used which simulates different operation modes of units up to emergency situations. Combined teaching methods are also possible — practical and partly theoretical lessons at manufacturer’s premises, and final theoretical training at regional training facility.

 An important step in equipment operation is capital repair upon the 5 year period specified by the manufacturer. The relevance of this step is currently supported by the fact that today 43 % of equipment produced by NOV FIDMASH need capital repair due to high degree of wear and due to the fact that its further operation becomes unsafe.

Repair works are quite complicated from technical point of view for the following reasons:

 - modern equipment has undergone a number of changes compared to the samples of the first years of production — in fact, 4 generations changed;

 - some suppliers discontinued production of obsolete models of components, such as equipment installed by Mogilevtransmash, domestic hydraulic equipment, data acquisition systems;

 - no “single scheme” of capital repair as actual volume of works is determined based on the diagnostics of components and assemblies condition in place;

 - customer’s desire to upgrade the operating equipment to modern counterparts at minimum cost and maximum extent.

The above reasons render almost all capital repairs impossible without modernization and therefore require highly professional approach both in design and manufacturing of new types of units — from calculations of different technical options to design of individual components and systems required for the adaptation of new technical solutions to the old equipment types. And here it is absolutely impossible to do without the manufacturer. Validity of this statement is also supported by the fact that one of the largest customers of coiled tubing equipment tried two years ago to repair their own units which had still not been completed.

Due to the above reasons the current legislation (Safety Regulations in the Oil and Gas Industry ПБ 08-624-03 approved by Resolution of the Russian Gosgortechnadzor No. 4812 dated 05.06.2003) introduced certain restrictions on such operations:

1.5.10. Any change in the design of the equipment may be made as agreed by the designer of this equipment and the territorial body of the Russian Gosgortekhnadzor. The use of upgraded equipment is allowed subject to a positive conclusion of the expert body for industrial safety.

 NOV FIDMASH as a manufacturer developed a whole program of capital repair and modernization with the following main goals:

 - improvement of safety of operation;

 - improvement of reliability and extension of service life;

 - improvement of performance;

 - adjustment of normative documentation with current regulatory requirements.

 The first step of this program is visiting the customer for diagnostics of the equipment and agreement on the scope of the repair. Based on the results of the visit a cost estimate is produced and a commercial offer is submitted.

Quite often the subject of heated discussion with our customers is the place of work: either at manufacturer’s premises or at the operating location base. In our view the best choice is to work precisely at the factory premises for the following reasons:

 - time of work is shorter at the factory in spite of the time spent for transportation. This is due to the fact that in some cases the customer does not have the whole set of equipment and tools for the work;

 - cost of works is comparable in both cases due to the fact that when working at the customer’s base there are additional costs for travel and accommodation of the repair team, as well as the need to attract regional subcontracting companies, while at the factory thanks to availability of process equipment we produce a variety of parts and components independently. This in particular relates to manufacturing of high pressure hoses, as well as parts and components that require machining;

 - full restoration of paint;

 - due to availability of full testing, we provide the same warranty for repaired equipment as for new one.

At the Customers’ Conference this year we demonstrated a Coiled Tubing Unit M20 manufactured in 2002 fully repaired and modernized. In fact by its performance this unit is not inferior to new ones, and this was noted by the participants of the conference.

In conclusion we would like to note that all efforts of our team are aimed at maximization of customer satisfaction not only by technical characteristics and quality of produced equipment but also by full range of services for maintenance of operating equipment during its entire service life.