iSeparate potential from readiness
A well may have recoverable potential and still lack integrity, access, a credible intervention route or evacuation capacity. The screening register should hold these as separate conditions with the evidence each needs. In the North Sea about 500 inactive suspended wells await final abandonment, and well work took GBP 1.3 billion of 2025 decommissioning spend (NSTA, August 2026). The cost of the wrong order is visible in the regulator's own figures.
iiChoose the smallest useful next step
Some uncertainties can be resolved from existing records and targeted diagnostics. Others need an intervention or a test. The next activity is chosen for the decision it enables, with the barrier and operating requirements in place, not because it is the activity the rig is available for.
iiiTreat the flowline as part of the decision
A restart case must include backpressure, fluid handling, the receiving facilities, tie-in permissions and execution constraints. A successful intervention does not by itself give a route to sales. On a mature onshore field the flowline may be the item with the longest lead time and the highest integrity risk, and it may sit in a replacement programme with its own planned and actual dates.
ivAgree when to stop
Define hold points, economic limits and technical rejection criteria before the campaign starts. A disciplined programme gives the team permission to park weak opportunities while it advances the ones with better evidence.
A restart programme builds evidence before it commits capital.