Industry standard surveys?

We prefer to do much better than that…

We conduct high level and independent conditional rig surveys for clients anywhere in the world. We understand that there are different types and levels of surveying, and meticulously inspecting the current condition of the rig is perhaps the most important.

Many companies say that they survey up to international standards, of course they do otherwise there could be legal or insurance related issues. Here at Rig Integrity Group Services (RIGS), we use the accepted international guidelines as a starting point. We then seek to optimize and dig deeper into the conventional standards to do our best to be proactive in forward planning and maintenance.

The start up period is crucial

The beginning of any project is crucial to its success for these reasons, among others:

• Before drilling starts, your company will be burning through cash.
• The crew might be newly put together and will take time to harmonize.
• There will be a list of unknown challenges ahead.
• There will be extra pressure on the management to get it right.
• There will be environmental, cultural or other adjustments for the crew.
• It’s likely that there is a mixture of new and old equipment coming from different places.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do things in life. On the right side of the spectrum there is acceptable performance and optimal performance. After the long process of tendering, planning and organizing, the physical work starts. There is still a huge task ahead to just to get ready. It is during these high pressure times that things can be overlooked and mistakes can be made.

Save money in advance

We have all experienced situations where a critical equipment failure has resulted in serious down time, or worse. We want to avoid situations where an important spare part can only be delivered in seven days, when the manufacturer had only just dropped off our latest order. These types of delays can cost literally millions when we consider the rig, crew and associated costs per day.

How many times after a significant failure do we realize that it could have been averted? In most cases? The current rig crew can get accustomed to the rig that they are working on and become very familiar with it. Corrosion, wear and stress fractures can easily creep in unnoticed, regardless of how experienced or skilled the crew is. This is not usually down to incompetence, but an aspect of human nature.

To counteract this tendency for issues to be left too long, and for forward action steps to be taken too late, independent conditional surveys need to be conducted on a regular basis.

Not just because they are a company or a regulatory requirement, but because the decision to do so is simply good business practice. The cost of an independent conditional survey from a specialist who knows what to look for is small compared to the alternatives. Using an outside survey firm who is seeing different rigs in varying locations all the time is invaluable.

It gets a little easier though…

Once the drilling starts ahead of schedule and without any incident then a routine of efficient teamwork can start to take place. When everything is set up, you can relax just a little and focus on operating the machine rather than building it.

To get from the planning to the pumping stage has its own rewards and satisfactions, any experienced hand can tell you this. To do it as quickly, safely and efficiently as possible involves some experienced oversight from specialists.

This is what we can provide, we will thoroughly work through every component and structure, ensuring it is all ready to work properly. We will identify immediate problems, and also less urgent points that will need attention in the near future.

All of our findings are packaged into a report that will be invaluable to the rig managers, drilling engineers and anyone else who might need a comprehensive reference point to help them.