Oil and gas drilling operations are carried out in some of the most remote and harsh terrain on the planet. From searing deserts to icy tundra, offshore rigs to dense jungles, oil fields exist in extremely demanding environments.
Ensuring continuous drilling and extraction under such conditions requires extensive onsite equipment maintenance and emergency repairs. Maintenance shelters provide enclosed workshop spaces at drilling locations to support these critical activities.
Maintenance shelters offer oil field technicians shelter from the external elements while they work. This allows urgent mechanical, electrical, and system fixes to be performed onsite to minimize downtime and production losses. Maintenance shelters are indispensable investments that enable safer, faster, and more cost-effective field operations.
Protection From Outdoor Elements
Oil drilling outposts exist in locales with extreme weather variability. A lightweight maintenance enclosure protects repair technicians and sensitive equipment from conditions like:
- Heavy rain, snow, or hail
- Sandstorms causing dust ingress
- High winds that risk tools and parts being blown away
- Lightning strikes during electrical storms
- Extreme heat, cold, humidity or dryness
A controlled workspace safeguards workers, components, and tools from factors that can hamper productivity or cause damage. The enclosed shelter space stays clean for handling precision instruments. Static-sensitive electronics are shielded against dust contamination. Climate control systems maintain ideal temperatures for workers and machines alike.
Besides weather, remote field locations also mean exposure to fumes, pollutants, and other air quality hazards. Maintenance shelters mitigate these risks by filtering outside air entering the workspace. They ensure oil field repair crews have a safe and comfortable facility for round-the-clock responsiveness.
Improved Organization And Workflow
An orderly workshop with well-organized parts storage seems like an obvious asset. However, the logistical challenges of remote oil fields make this difficult. Transporting bulky specialized equipment to and from distant warehouses is slow. Stocking rarely-used spares onsite as a contingency is expensive.
Maintenance shelters solve these issues by providing an on-location centralized hub for storing necessary repair components, tools, and materials. Onsite shelters mean parts and equipment for all site machinery can be kept close at hand. Common wear items are stocked to avoid maintenance delays. Infrequently used but mission-critical spares are also provisioned, just in case.
Workbenches, cabinets, racks, and lifts can be permanently installed rather than needing reassembly with every repair job. Strict tool management and shadow boards provide for intuitive hand tool access. Having organized spare parts and tools available enables faster maintenance workflow. It also reduces the risks of misplacing components, which can cause bigger problems.
The shelter’s centralized workspace improves coordination between technicians, supervisors, and parts suppliers. Repair activities for all site machinery, whether above ground or below, can be monitored and optimized. Maintenance shelters transform oil field operations from makeshift dispersed efforts to standardized, consolidated processes.
Reduced Equipment Downtime
In oil and gas operations, production capacity is directly tied to equipment uptime. However, failures are inevitable due to wear and tear over time in rough operating environments. When breakdowns occur, the speed of getting machinery running again has huge cost implications.
Slow maintenance turnarounds lead to extended periods of inoperability. This causes expensive production shutdowns, failure to meet supply commitments, and revenue losses. With an onsite maintenance shelter, however, repairs can begin immediately, minimizing downtime. Diagnosing issues is faster when technicians have direct access to equipment. The time savings add up to significant cost reductions over hundreds of repair operations annually.
Onsite shelter access also avoids the complex logistics of transporting broken-down machinery to a distant shop facility. Field operations are not subjected to delays from the availability of external workshop space or wait times for repair crews to be dispatched to the location. Maintenance shelters transform oil fields into self-sufficient facilities for swift incident response.
Safer Maintenance Operations
Oil drilling operations involve handling extremely hazardous substances under tremendous pressure. Flammable chemicals, intense fires, and equipment holding thousands of PSI are routine. Maintenance procedures on high-risk equipment like blowout preventers and drill heads require strict safety protocols.
Trying to perform such repairs impromptu in the open field risks mishaps that endanger workers and the environment. Maintenance shelters provide closed workspaces for safer operations on dangerous machinery. The enclosed shelter contains any pressure releases, leaks, or explosions. Workers are shielded from weather elements that impede vision or dexterity.
The segregated workshop area also prevents untrained personnel from accidentally interfering with maintenance activities. Only authorized technicians have access to the shelter workspace. They can exercise lockout/tagout and other safety measures without interference. Critical maintenance can continue alongside normal drilling operations without endangering non-essential rig staff.
Maintenance shelters also offer storage for damage control and spill response kits for timely incident containment. Their sturdy builds provide robust shelter from extreme events like fires, explosions, and storms. In case of emergencies, maintenance shelters can serve as protected command centers for response coordination. Having maintenance shelters thus provides major safety and risk reduction benefits for oil fields.
Multi-Purpose Functionality
Oil field outposts have limited space, requiring support facilities to serve multiple purposes. Here, maintenance shelters provide additional advantages with diverse functionality beyond just equipment upkeep. Shelters can double as:
- Temporary offices for supervisory staff visiting the field location. This avoids lodging costs at distant hotels.
- Training spaces for new technicians before they are deployed to regular worksites. Hands-on maintenance drills can be conducted on dummy equipment inside shelters.
- Mess halls for meal breaks, allowing workers to avoid trekking long distances back to rig living quarters.
- Change rooms with lockers for workers to shed dirty gear and uniforms before breaks.
- Material storage for consumables, unused spare parts, and tools during facility shutdowns or storms.
- Emergency medical treatment rooms offer privacy to injured workers. They can be equipped with first-aid supplies for minor incident response.
- Temporary accommodation for personnel during major shutdowns or emergencies when the work camp facilities are overloaded.
Maintenance shelters, with their sturdy builds, power supply, and climate control capabilities, can readily serve these supplementary purposes. Their flexible utilization significantly expands the value proposition for oil field installations with limited space.
Cost-Effective Investments
Companies may question the need for permanent maintenance shelters at oil well locations, given their significant capital costs. Typical construction expenses range from USD$100,000 to USD$500,000 based on size, materials and outfitting. Ongoing utility and operation costs also accrue for lighting, HVAC, and maintenance.
However, when analyzing the value generated by minimizing equipment downtime and production losses, shelters represent a prudent investment. The cost savings from just one or two reduced shutdown incidents can surpass the annualized expense of building and operating a shelter facility. Other quantifiable benefits like increased worker productivity, reduced repair turnaround times, and lower logistics overheads provide further returns.
Maintenance shelters also avoid expenses related to transporting machinery elsewhere for servicing or the fees of third-party repair shops. Resources needed for repair operations become self-sufficient rather than dependent on external vendors. The versatile shelter workspace delivers value beyond just maintenance uses.
Considering these multidimensional benefits, investing in onsite maintenance shelters is highly economical for large oilfields. The shelters pay back their capital costs many times over during long-term operations. They deliver significant qualitative advantages as well, like closer regulatory compliance, safer working conditions, and improved employee morale.
In Conclusion
Maintenance shelters provide numerous benefits that make them a prudent investment for oil field operators, including protection from the weather, improved organization and efficiency, reduced equipment downtime, safer maintenance conditions, and multi-purpose functionality that enhances productivity.
With on-demand access to an enclosed controlled workshop space directly onsite, maintenance shelters enable swift repairs to be carried out in-house, minimizing disruptions to oil drilling operations. Their year-round availability helps maximize uptime and profitability even in harsh environments.
When weighing their substantial returns against capital costs, maintenance shelters prove to be a critical facility that pays dividends for smooth, optimized oil production.
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
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U.S. Energy Media Staffhttps://oilmanmagazine.com/author/oilmanwp/
Oil and gas operations are commonly found in remote locations far from company headquarters. Now, it's possible to monitor pump operations, collate and analyze seismic data, and track employees around the world from almost anywhere. Whether employees are in the office or in the field, the internet and related applications enable a greater multidirectional flow of information – and control – than ever before.
