On the Development of Technology Governance in the Well Area

Abstract

The present paper describes the establishment and implementation of the technology governance in the well area at Petrobras, which includes R&D, qualification and homologation projects. Corporate standards delineated the technology governance to assure uniformity and impersonality. It comprises two main processes: (i) establishment of technical specifications; (ii) technology evaluation. The former includes the elaboration/review of technical specifications focused on functional, quality and reliability aspects and clearly defined normative requirements. The latter process begins with the presentation of the technology by the potential suppliers and evaluation of interest by the project areas. Subsequently, in accordance with the readiness level assigned to the technology, it may be allocated as a R&D, qualification or homologat ion project, addressing to the appropriate treatment and assuring celerity for the necessary analysis. To operationalize the whole process, Petrobras created a department in well area responsible for structuring and leading processes related to the admission of new technologies to the company, linked with the already well established R&D process. Deliberative forums have been held with managers of all the technical areas involved allowing collegial decision. Prioritized projects have been conducted by multidisciplinary working groups, including representatives from project and operation team, contract department, and also well experts. All technology process deliveries are reported by means of standard documents and are recorded in corporate system ensuring traceability and technical memory preservation. Nowadays, all the processes are well established and running for over 2 years with good feedback from stakeholders. It is worth mentioning the improvements in communication flow between and within departments and teams, better definition of roles and responsibilities reducing interface issues and easy availability of information that may be accessed for all parties involved with the projects. Additionally, there is a continuous improvement for system solutions assuring input, maintain, control and consult the whole information shared throughout the process. The method adopted based on technology readiness level for new equipment/material/service assessment is aligned to good practices from other segments, such as aerospace industry. Moreover, technical specification focused on functional, quality and reliability requirements and system solutions for quick information availability complies with IOGP recommendations, ISO standards and with an increasingly restrictive regulation scenario especially after the lessons learned post-Macondo.