Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018最新文献

{"title":"A Digitalized New Life For a 100 Year-Old Heavy Oil Brown Field","authors":"Christian Ramírez, O. Espinola, J. Álvarez, A. Torres, J. Avena, Isaid Basilio, Claudia Guerrero","doi":"10.2118/191178-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191178-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The rich oil accumulations in the southern Tamaulipas area in Mexico have been discussed in the literature for over 100 years. The first productive well in this field located in north-east Mexico was drilled in 1910, and the field has been producing commercially since then. More than a 100 years later, in 2013, the field started a new chapter under a different operating company, which began a push for the implementation of an operations excellence initiative among the stakeholders for which the first goal is production maintenance through increased uptime of the wells.\u0000 A key to success in this new chapter for the exploitation of the field is the implementation of a digital oilfield focused in linking operational philosophy with available technologies and telemetry systems to integrate the operations excellence initiative with the field's operational requirements.\u0000 Five workflows are implemented and working for the field. Each workflow complies with a target:\u0000 Well monitoring for progressive cavity pumps (PCPs): This workflow tackles the early detection of anomalies in operational variables for well performance. Well rate estimation for PCPs: This workflow calculates production rate estimates for PCP wells. Well status: This workflow provides the live determination of the well operational status. Production losses: This workflow provides the daily tracking of production performance. Integrated reservoir and production tracking: This workflow enables field-level integrated analysis for reservoir and production data.\u0000 Incorporation of this solution generates a collaborative working environment between field operators, engineering departments and asset management, promoting synergy to strive for operation excellence in a challenging operating and economic environment.\u0000 The implementation of this digital solution enables a new era for the operations of a 100-year-old brownfield in Mexico. Changing operational conditions and low-productivity wells producing with artificial lift systems are the key challenges to maintaining production in the field. The system allows for timely acknowledgement of the field operating conditions to take proactive actions thus strengthening the operations and supporting to meet the steadily growing production targets.\u0000 The components of the system can be replicated and tailored to the challenges faced in different operating conditions. Field instrumentation, available technology, and engineering processes are combined to work toward the goal of excellence in operations and returns.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"62 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130017300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strengthening Capability for Oiled Wildlife Management in Trinidad and Tobago","authors":"M. Hosein","doi":"10.2118/191181-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191181-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Despite Trinidad and Tobago having the highest biodiversity in the Caribbean and being an oil and gas producer for over 100 years, there is no approved systematic process to adequately address the protection, treatment and remediation of wildlife in the event of oil spills, apart from what is given in Section 5 of the 2013 National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP).\u0000 BP Group requirements in 2012 stipulated the need for a documented process to manage oiled wildlife. Using international guidelines, a detailed review was conducted in 2013 to determine what was needed to establish an oiled wildlife preparedness and response programme in BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC (BPTT). This involved engagement of various external stakeholders (regulators, researchers, veterinary services, environmental non-governmental organizations [ENGOs], and international wildlife response organizations) to determine what had been put in place and what could have been established to manage national disasters involving wildlife.\u0000 Local animal rehabilitation centres were found to have limited capability to respond to large incidents. BPTT sponsored an Oiled Wildlife Preparedness Response Train the Trainer programme in 2013 to increase the number of volunteers available for oiled wildlife management by enabling the ENGOs to share the techniques with others. Formal volunteer training via ENGOs began in 2017. BPTT also established its own Level 1 Oiled Wildlife Response Kit comprising tools and equipment required to handle, treat and remediate wildlife impacted by oil. While developing its Oiled Wildlife Management Plan, BPTT was asked by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI) to lead the initiative to further develop Section 5 of the NOSCP in collaboration with the stakeholders mentioned above and the other oil and gas operators. In 2016, the draft national Oiled Wildlife Management Plan was segment-tested during a BPTT major drill that involved a simulated uncontrolled offshore release of hydrocarbon which impacted emerging Green Turtle hatchlings on Manzanilla Beach. The learnings from this drill are being incorporated in the Trinidad and Tobago draft Oiled Wildlife Management Plan which will be added to the next update of the NOSCP.\u0000 BPTT remains committed to working with the stakeholders to obtain approval to formally implement this system. In the meanwhile, engagement with the different groups, ENGO training of additional volunteers, drills, data collection from actual incidents continues as capability in oiled wildlife management in Trinidad and Tobago is strengthened.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121077137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A New Kind of EOR for Trinidad","authors":"E. Delamaide","doi":"10.2118/191205-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191205-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) has been utilized in Trinidad and Tobago for over 50 years. Most projects so far have focused on thermal as well as gas injection along with the more conventional waterfloods. In spite of that, recovery factors are still relatively low and the country's oil production has been declining for some time. Surprisingly, given the progress in chemical EOR and in particular polymer flooding in the last 10 years, these processes have not been used in Trinidad and we suggest that it might be time to consider their application. Similarly, foam has been used extensively worldwide to improve performances of gas and steam injection but has not yet been used in the country.\u0000 The situation of EOR in Trinidad will be first reviewed along with the characteristics of the main reservoirs. Then the potential for the application of chemical-based EOR methods such as polymer, surfactant and foams will be studied by comparing the characteristics of Trinidad's reservoirs to others worldwide which have seen the applications of chemical-based EOR methods.\u0000 This review and screening suggests that there is no technical barrier to the application of all these EOR methods in Trinidad. Most reservoirs produce heavy oil and are heavily faulted, but polymer injection has been widely applied in heavy oil reservoirs as well as in faulted reservoirs before, and suitable examples will be provided in the paper. Similarly, these characteristics do not present any specific difficulty for foam-enhanced gas or steam injection. The main issue appears to be the identification of suitable water sources for the projects.\u0000 This paper proposes a new look at EOR opportunities in Trinidad using conventional methods which have not been used in the country. This will help reservoir engineers who are considering such applications in the country and hopefully will eventually result in an increase in the oil production in the future.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127458261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Determination of Particle Shape and Size Distribution from Micro X-Ray CT Scans for Petrophysical Evaluation and Sand Control Design","authors":"K. Ghasemi, Mahdi Mahmoudi, Morteza Roostaei, Vahidoddin Fattahpour, M. Soroush, A. Nouri","doi":"10.2118/191193-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191193-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Particle size, shape and mineralogy are considered as primary characteristics of sand and sandstone. Several techniques have been developed for the particle size and shape analysis of unconsolidated sands. However, few of these techniques can be used for sandstones. Most particle size measurement techniques provide a spherical equivalent of the particle size and neglect the particle shape. Although several techniques have been developed for the particle size and shape analysis of the unconsolidated sands, these techniques could not be used for the size and shape variation analysis of consolidated or semi-consolidated sandstone.\u0000 Recently, X-ray micro CT scanning technique has been used for the evaluation of petrophysical properties of sandstones. This paper presents a workflow for the measurement of particle size and shape of sandstones. This research utilized X-ray micro CT scans for 2-dimensional particle shape measurements including Sphericity, Convexity, Aspect Ratio and Feret diameters. The methodology presented in this paper is the first step toward assessing the particle shape and size variation of sandstones for use in such applications as sand control design.\u0000 Image-J, an Open-source software, was used to process and filter the X-ray raw images. A new tool was developed to measure the shape factors (i.e. Sphericity, Aspect Ratio and Convexity) and size variations. A series of images from different sandstones were analyzed and compared to their lab measurements. The image calculated porosity and permeability showed some degree of deviation from the lab measured porosity and permeabilities.\u0000 This paper presents a new workflow to measure the particle size and shape for the sand control design in sandstone reservoirs. With a larger database it is possible to develop a correlation to calculate rock properties from image size analysis technique and correct them for the shape variation. The next step will be to measure the 3D size and shape from the image analysis and compare to the shape and size analysis from dynamic image analysis.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124506450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing the Cement Quality Using Polypropylene Fibers","authors":"A. Ahmed, R. Gajbhiye, S. Elkatatny, M. Rahman, P. Sarmah, Prahlad Yadav","doi":"10.2118/191189-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191189-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 With the high global demand of oil and gas, oilfield companies are seeking resources in the unexplored areas by drilling wells to explore the potential reserves of oil and gas. The drilling process has become more challenging in these unexplored areas, especially at the high pressure and high temperature conditions (HPHT). A strong cement sheath is highly desired to ensure the durability and integrity of the wells to overcome these challenges. The cement slurry design and cementing job become more challenging especially when the process is carried out at the high pressure and high temperature conditions. Industry is always looking for the new material which can be stable at these extreme conditions and meet the requirement effectively and economically.\u0000 Polymer fibers are being used in the petroleum industry lately to assist in meeting these tough requirements. In this research, the usage of polypropylene fibers (PPF) on enhancing the oilwell cements properties at high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) were evaluated. The polypropylene fibers were added into cement admixture with discrete amount to evaluate its influence on enhancing the performance of cements especially those relate to the toughness.\u0000 Experiments were performed using distinct cement slurry characteristics such as rheological properties, thickening time, compressive strength, density, porosity and permeability. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) was also performed for analyzing the microstructure of the cement.\u0000 The experimental tests showed that addition of fibers improves the mechanical properties, accelerates the thickening time, reduces the porosity and permeability and helps in designing a new cement slurry which withstands the HPHT conditions. Polypropylene fiber has a significant effect on reducing the porosity and the permeability of the base cement. Microstructural analysis showed that polypropylene fiber particles block the capillaries by filling the pores in the cement, so a dense cement structure is achieved.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"06 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124466187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Model of Human Resource Needs for the Upstream Petroleum Sector","authors":"N. Alleyne, D. Alexander","doi":"10.2118/191197-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191197-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The petroleum industry needs persons with a wide variety of skills for its efficient operation. A catalogue of these skills is therefore very useful to any entity, be it country or company, entering the petroleum industry. This paper describes the human resource needs of the industry on the basis of the value chain of the industry.\u0000 The petroleum value chain starts with activities aimed at searching for and finding petroleum and ends with production and sales of crude oil and natural gas to refineries and end users. The technical needs for each section of the value chain are depicted by a model that describes the skills required from the technician to the professional level in addition to the specialist skills. These specialist skills are not always at the professional level. For each section of the value chain the technical skills are built around a particular discipline such as geoscience or petroleum engineering.\u0000 The final result is a three dimensional model with ‘technical complexity’ represented in one dimension, ‘value chain variation’ represented in the second dimension and the different entities in the industry represented by the third or ‘entity’ dimension. Along the ‘entity’ slice of the model e.g. for the regulator, the base skills of the disciplines for each section of the value chain are modified or tuned to the needs of a regulatory body such as the ministry of energy for all sections of the value chain. By way of example, under the prospect generation section of the value chain, the regulator requires geoscientist skills aimed at awarding acreage for exploration, the operating companies require geoscience skills for planning and executing exploration programmes and the service companies focus on the skills for providing exploration services.\u0000 The model develops a complete catalogue of skills required to meet the needs of all entities involved in the petroleum industry. This catalogue provides universities and training providers with skills which need to be developed in students in preparation for jobs in the industry.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129489515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Selectivizing a Singled Bed Reservoir, A Successfully Application to Increase the Vertical Displacement Efficiency in a Heavy Oil Waterflooding Project","authors":"P. Solórzano, D. Ahmedt, C. Jaimes, W. Henao, Sandra Vega, C. Guerrero, E. Meza, J. M. Leon, D. Dueñas","doi":"10.2118/191170-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191170-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper presents the application of multiple selectives injection zones within a high thickness singled bed heavy oil sand. The results were compared with a single zone completion in the same sand, establishing the differences in several aspects like recovery factor, vertical distribution efficiency, operation styles and completion difficulties.\u0000 This approach is based on the application of two methods of water vertical irrigation in a heavy oil sand, first, a singled 300’ zone completion and else, a 3-4 selectives zones completion, separating the equivalent injection in spaces of 60’-100’ thickness each. To route the flow, the packers were located next to thin shale planes most as possible. The objective was use this natural inundation surfaces intentionally as vertical permeability barriers looking forward to this works as a vertical flow controllers beyond wells selectivization, means like flooding separators, inside the heart of reservoir. In injector wells 3 types of behavior profile logs were ran several times within more than two years.\u0000 The reservoir under study it is the sand T2 located at Chichimene field, at the Colombia Llanos Basin. It has 320’/250’r of gross/net thickness, physically looks like a singled bed, it is saturated with high viscosity extra heavy oil of 350 cps, it is located at 9000’ measured depth (6000 - 6800’ TVDSS) the permeability shows a broad permeability range of 5 – 10000 mD. Waterflooding was initiated by 2014, the single zone completions wells, were exposed to a 6000 bls/d rate over very high permeability layer and this produced immediate channelization in thin layers only in some weeks after initiated. Producer wells increased water cut to high values, injection rates were controlled as results of its and finally some of the injectors had to be shut in. In the other set of wells, selective applications got separate the sand by 3 or 4 zones, the reservoir sand were irrigated by the same time, at the same rate of 6000 bls/d, almost 2000 bls/d each zone, this time the trends were simply different, means, producers water cut it was low and more stable. The results shows up about 2-3% of RF by simple zone completion in opposite to 6-10% of RF with selectives completions, evidencing a better vertical irrigation.\u0000 The case study presented in this paper, it is a successful curiously application of multiple selectives completions within a single sand. This example has been tested in field, it is an effective option in order to increase recovery factor and it will reborn expectations about the use of selectives completions over thick heavy oil sands. This results definitely; it will encourage engineers to think more about mechanical conformance applications in waterflooding.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122235244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Modeling of Foam-Assisted Wellbore Cleanup and Drilling Processes with Both Dry- and Wet-Foam Rheological Properties","authors":"Yanfang Wang, C. Thiberville, S. Kam","doi":"10.2118/191263-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191263-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 As advanced drilling technology gains more popularity in the development of unconventional reservoirs and deepwater fields, the demand for an improved drilling hydraulics modeling escalates today. The situation is also true for foam applications that have long been used as a useful means of downhole cleaning and underbalanced drilling methods.\u0000 This study investigates how a new foam model, recently developed by Wang et al. (2017), can be applied to a wide range of hole cleaning and drilling scenarios. The model combines rheological properties of wet foams and dry foams by using 9 model parameters (3 to define the range of gas and liquid flowrates and corresponding frictional pressure losses of interest, 4 to fit the power-law rheology of wet and dry foams, and last 2 to capture the sensitivity of foam rheology to gas and liquid rates). These scenarios consider foam circulation into 10,000 ft long wells at different inclination angles with a long vertical, inclined, or horizontal trajectory. The results from this new method are compared with two existing foam modeling techniques, so-called Chen et al.'s model (based on the correlations for wet foams only) and Edrisi and Kam's model (based on wet- and dry-foam rheological properties with 5 model parameters). The results show that, with or without formation fluid influx, the new foam model demonstrates the robustness of the new modeling technique in all scenarios capturing foam flow characteristics better, whenever the situation forms stable fine-textured foams or unstable coarse-textured foams.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115297190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Critical Review and Future Trend on Relative Permeability Hysteresis","authors":"Murtada A. Elhaj, Mahamudul Hashan, M. Hossain","doi":"10.2118/191260-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191260-MS","url":null,"abstract":"The term \"hysteresis\" has been used for a long time. The researchers were paying attention because of its wider usages in many disciplines of science and engineering. However, the concept of hysteresis may differ from one discipline to other depending on parameters of interest. The effect of hysteretic on reservoir performance can be either negative or positive. Therefore, evaluation of hydrocarbon recovery techniques will depend on the accurate estimation of the rock and fluid properties. Many researchers believe that hysteresis behaviour in rock properties is related to the concept of unrecovered hydrocarbon. Numerous experimental and mathematical studies are offered to understand the hysteresis of rock properties. However, researchers paid more attention to the relative permeability hysteresis because of its important contributions on mobility ratio toward the oil recovery. The purpose of this paper is to extensively review, discuss and analyze the fundamentals of experimental processes and mathematical models of relative permeability hysteresis. In addition, the importance of relative permeability hysteresis in reservoir engineering is highlighted.\u0000 In the literature, no attempt has been made to refer and review the relative permeability hysteresis despite numerous published papers. This paper considers offering a comprehensive critical review and analysis of hysteresis that related to petroleum engineering. A systematic approach to literature survey is followed to offer a future research guideline in the area.\u0000 A critical analysis is offered on theoretical and empirical models for relative permeability hysteresis, the types of relative permeability hysteresis, factors affecting relative permeability hysteresis and rock types that are used in the experimental techniques to estimate the hysteresis. This paper tracks the current development on hysteresis and provides insight into future trends on the application of this phenomenon. The overall results show some missing concepts in existing models and experimental processes for the hysteresis. The finding also shows that for a better understanding of multiphase flow in porous media, it is essential to study the relative permeability hysteresis. Finally, this paper offers some recommendations for missing aspect and future research guidelines.\u0000 The importance of relative permeability hysteresis in fluid flow through porous media is rebuilt in describing each of the flowing phases. In addition, this study will help in understanding better reservoir performance as well as reservoir description.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"186 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133695366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Risk Management of Major Oil Spill","authors":"Adriana Suárez, Fidel Ilizástigui","doi":"10.2118/191183-MS","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2118/191183-MS","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Major oil spills have the potential to become major environmental incidents. This paper aims to summarize the results of the study aimed at providing oil companies with more effective tools to help them better manage their environmental risks associated with the occurrence of major oil spills during offshore drilling operations. The latter is meant to be achieved by following a rigorous and systematic approach to the integrity management of environmental barriers and the performance of safety critical tasks in the same way the industry has long dealt with the management of integrity thereof.\u0000 The paper suggests complementing the approach contained in the IPIECA IOGP guidelines on oil spill contingency planning with DNV guidelines on environmental barrier management. This way the known cycle of ‘assurance and verification' will cover those barriers which are in place to mitigate the effects of major oil spills thus ensuring their availability and effectiveness when are called upon. This includes: a) the identification of environmental critical elements and tasks, b) development of performance standards c) identification of assurance and verification activities and d) the reporting of deviations to senior management levels and taking of corrective actions.\u0000 The paper introduces the Bowtie risk management methodology as a tool which supports the barrier management approach by linking technical risk analyses with safety management systems (SMS). This is thanks to its inherent strengths not present in other risk assessment methodologies such as event trees and fault trees. Last, but not least, the introduction of Bowtie methodology will facilitate understanding by all levels of the Oil Company of the role of the barriers in mitigating the effects of accident scenarios and their relationship with other barriers during the control of the accident scenario. The latter is realized through the motto that characterizes Bowtie methodology - ‘A picture paints a thousand words'.","PeriodicalId":352851,"journal":{"name":"Day 1 Mon, June 25, 2018","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121550157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}