When approached by an international oil and gas producer based in Calgary with operations in Saskatchewan, Corrigal Consulting (Corrigal) knew the challenge the producer was facing. The oil and gas company needed Corrigal to manage their Accelerated Site Closure Program that focused on identifying their highest risk inactive flowlines and pipelines in the province, nominating these assets via the Integrated Resource Information System (IRIS), and then identifying preferred service companies to execute on the abandonment and site closure activities.
In 2020, upstream producers in Saskatchewan were given the opportunity to apply for federal funding via the Accelerated Site Closure Program, assisting in the complete abandonment of their aging and inactive energy assets, while ensuring businesses were able to operate during the COVID downturn. The assets included wells, flowlines, pipelines, and facilities. The Saskatchewan government estimated that the equivalent of up to 8,000 inactive wells and facilities would be abandoned and reclaimed over the life of this program. Most companies would have aging flowlines and facilities that would require attention. This work is not glamorous and in historic years was not prioritized by operating companies.
By following the federal guidelines, Corrigal was able to assemble a team of experts, along with a technology stack to execute on the producer’s identified 625 flowline abandonments and 8 Multi-well Battery Facilities. The facilities in question were once sightlines but for decades, abandoned and awaiting environmental reclamation and remediation.
The producer, prior to this project, had subscribed to GDM’s Converge application, knowing the tool’s ability to view detailed profiles for any pipeline, well, or facility including environmental incident attributes and information, pipeline summaries, elevation profile graphs, and risk profiles. Corrigal leveraged this technology for the success of his project.
Corrigal’s first task was to identify high-risk, inactive flowlines and pipelines, which as all companies know, is not an easy task. It was immeasurably helpful to be able to layer key data on the Converge mapping interface to determine flowlines and pipelines that were situated within environmentally sensitive areas, indigenous lands, minor and major water crossings, road crossings, and surrounding population densities.
Converge’s ability to deliver clear, concise data was pivotal in the nomination phase and desktop review of the producer’s flowline and pipeline inventory. Having the ability to easily review historical production data was critical during the asset nomination process.
Following the asset nomination, the field staff further leveraged Converge daily when scouting these assets prior to abandonment activities. The mapping module helped determine issues or inconsistencies in the data and was used to troubleshoot at a field level. As errors were identified, Corrigal could update and correct the data within Converge. If they required support to correct or change flowline and pipeline mapping, GDM support was there to help.
During field execution, Corrigal was able to field-validate flowline and pipeline data to better understand the assets in question and correct/update the inventory within Converge. This directly impacted the producer’s ability to make future decisions when it comes to operations and maintenance issues. And, having the ability to bulk update flowline and pipeline statuses as fieldwork was completed was critical to ensuring the team was capturing all the field work and ensuring the data was as accurate as possible.
From evaluating assets for end-of-life nomination to project execution the entire project yielded great experience, resulting in the producer completing their Accelerated Site Closure Program. Corrigal completed the project on budget while emphasizing a safety-first mentality through the producer’s Life Saving Rules, which is something they can be proud of.
“As a consultant, aligning yourself with the right tools and service determines the success of any project, and Converge was a big part of the project’s success. Not only was the tool user-friendly and intuitive, but the GDM customer support team was also responsive and reliable.”
Please feel free to contact Corrigal Consulting for further information on their experience in leveraging GDM tools and services in the Accelerated Site Closure program, or to learn more about the importance of field validation of your company’s flowline and pipeline data. Alternatively, you can access a free 7-day trial with Converge at any time and see how you can realize value on day one.
About GDM Inc.
GDM Inc. is the trusted source for energy infrastructure data in Canada. In business since 1997, GDM is relied on by industry to deliver the most complete, accurate, and current pipeline and facility, environmental incident, transportation infrastructure, utility, and frontier land data. Our data is available as part of prominent industry applications AccuMap and geoSCOUT, in addition to being accessible via direct database connection and GIS-ready files.
To round out our offering, our proprietary software application, Converge, offers analytics and mapping tools, as well as modules specific to pipeline risk assessment, water crossing prioritization, and asset connectivity. We also deliver custom data reporting and analytics services to meet the unique and changing needs of the energy industry in Canada.
For more information about GDM’s solutions, visit www.gdm-inc.com.