Dear Delegates,

It is with great pleasure that I extend a warm welcome to every one of you participating in the 2024 SPE Well Integrity Symposium. This is the first symposium on well integrity management to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The symposium brings together professionals from industry, government, and academia to exchange innovative ideas and breakthroughs on how we as an industry can design and construct wells assets that can last the intended life cycle; and be operated in a manner that delivers tomorrow’s energy more sustainably, efficiently, and safely.

The increasing complexities of well construction activities in difficult and harsh environments and terrains mean that we cannot ignore the impact of not getting it right, first time, and all the time. As a result, potential risk of well integrity failures is amplified in such critical well projects either by inadequate design, substandard equipment, or due to premature failure of well integrity barrier elements or envelops. Failure of these elements can independently, or collectively, lead to a loss of primary well containment. There are many historical events that allude to this fact. Hence, as industry custodians and guardians, we have a duty of care to ensure that as we seek to deliver sustainable energy, we do so with wells assets that can be operated and maintained with the risk of uncontrolled flow of well effluents remaining as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). We owe this to ourselves, and to the future generations that will come after us.

The objective of this symposium is to learn from the brightest minds around the world, showcase state-of-the-art innovations, and spur ideas that will shape the future of how we as an industry ensure life cycle well integrity management is maintained at all times.

I would like to thank the programme co-chairs, organisation staff, and members of the programme committee for their hard work. I am confident that the 2024 SPE Well Integrity Symposium will be a successful and enjoyable event for all participants.

 

Yours sincerely,

Najeeb I. Al-Abdulrahman
Symposium Chairperson
Vice President and Chief Drilling Engineer
Drilling Engineering
Aramco