Wintershall Dea – Brage – Well Integrity Status

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has carried out an audit of Wintershall Dea and their follow-up of well integrity status for the Brage field. The audit was conducted on 5 and 6 May 2021.

Objective
The objective of the audit was to monitor how Wintershall Dea is complying with regulatory requirements and its own internal requirements in respect of major accident risk, including processes for risk, maintenance and well integrity management for the Brage wells.

We wanted to verify how Wintershall Dea ensures adequate follow-up of the technical condition of the wells tied to Brage, with monitoring and maintenance of well integrity, and that planned well maintenance is carried out in a robust manner and to applicable standards. We also wanted to monitor how Wintershall Dea ensures that risks associated with well activities are adequately identified and addressed during the planning and execution phase.

Result
Two non-conformities were identified during the audit. These comprised:
• Manning of the follow-up of well integrity
• Follow-up of own management system within well integrity

In addition, three factors were observed that we have categorised as improvement points. These concerned:
• Assessment of well barriers for water producers
• The management system within well integrity
• Compliance with internal requirements for qualification of formation clay as a well barrier element

What happens now?
We have asked Wintershall Dea to report on how the non-conformities will be addressed. We have also asked the company to give us its assessment of the improvement points observed. The deadline for feedback is set at 1 September 2021.