Just like your vehicle, oilfield assets need maintenance. The most beneficial upkeep oil and gas companies can do to protect their assets is preventative maintenance.
What is preventative maintenance and why do you need it?
Preventative maintenance is routine or scheduled care to your equipment and assets to prevent equipment failure and unforeseen downtime. It extends the lifespan of assets and equipment as well as infrastructure. Essentially, preventative maintenance recognizes potential concerns before they become an issue—a no-brainer when it comes to maintaining your assets.
Benefits of preventative maintenance include:
- Cost savings/Longevity: Preventative maintenance is more cost effective than unplanned maintenance. Extending the lifespan of your equipment means parts don’t need to be replaced as frequently, saving money in the long run.
- Safety: One of the top priorities of oil and gas operations is the health and safety of their workers. Preventative maintenance can reduce the chance of equipment breaking down unexpectedly, avoiding accidents that could put your crew at risk.
- Decreased downtime: Unplanned downtime costs industrial manufacturers an estimated $50 billion annually, according to a Wall Street Journal report. With regularly scheduled maintenance, operators can reduce the risk of equipment failure, which causes 42% of unplanned downtime incidents.
Maintenance vs. Remediation
Maintenance and remediation have the same goal—maintaining the lifespan of equipment. However, the benefits of preventative maintenance outweigh those of remediation.
Preventative maintenance is proactive and designed to prevent the need for remediation. For example, remediation is necessary for pipelines or wellbores when blockage occurs from paraffin wax or asphaltene buildups, preventing adequate flow. Properly treating pipelines and wellbores can prevent blockages and the subsequent need for remediation.
The Challenges of Equipment Maintenance
While beneficial, oilfield equipment maintenance comes with a unique set of challenges:
- Offshore: Oil and gas offshore operations face a number of challenges when it comes to operating and maintaining the equipment efficiently and safely. Offshore and deep water environments experience weather that can pose a risk to operations, like storms, hurricanes, wind, extreme temperatures and more. And because these operations are in remote locations, the response time for maintenance and repairs is greatly delayed. It also takes a skilled maintenance crew to tackle these challenges; however, the industry is currently facing a shortage due to the COVID pandemic and an aging workforce.
- Rural locations: It can be difficult to keep a scheduled, preventative maintenance plan when your operations lack the proper infrastructure in rural areas. Impacted roads, distance, transportation and even regulations (which may differ from urban areas) can influence how and when your maintenance is performed.
- Aged pipes: The most common problem in pipeline maintenance is corrosion caused by environmental conditions, climate and time. Long pipelines in particular are challenging to maintain, simply because of their extensive length and size.
Keep it flowing
Whether you’re starting out on your maintenance journey or looking to improve it, Ideal Energy Solutions, LLC offers maintenance and remediation products you can rely on.
LamFlo® is our preventative treatment solution for pipeline maintenance designed to separate and suspend paraffin wax and asphaltenes. LamFlo® can fend off future buildups and pipeline flow interruptions in both land and offshore operations when pumped continuously.
LamFlo® is:
- Biodegradable, BTEX free and non-hazardous when shipped, making it environmentally friendly.
- Reduces viscosity and lowers the pour point of low API gravity oils.
- Aggressive on heavy oils containing high concentrations of asphaltenes, such as bitumen, preventing them from reforming.
LamKleen® is a detergent solution specially formulated to penetrate and remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that remain in pipelines. It also cleans equipment/pipelines in preparation of maintenance and repairs such as hot work and abandonments-in-place.
LamKleen® is:
- Ready to use and non-hazardous.
- Reduces hydrocarbon residuals when used after the applying PipeRenew® or LamFlo®.
- Ideal for surface and subsea applications.
