Applying a Generic Approach to Risk-Based Inspection of Pressure Systems in Northwest Africa

Increasing efficiency while identifying potential threats, determining risk levels, and establishing inspection activities

1 Project Overview

The application of a traditional risk-based inspection (RBI) approach is typically labor and time intensive.

Oceaneering was able to apply a generic RBI plan to a project offshore northwest Africa, increasing efficiencies while reducing risk.

2 Challenge

The client needed a more effective way to manage their assets and maintain them.

The absence of an integrity data management system to extract information slowed our ability to develop a comprehensive RBI process. To successfully develop and execute the plan, a full suite of documents was required. Any missing information, including material types, could have created issues with the process.

3 Our Solution

Oceaneering set up a process to acquire integrity data and provided a gap analysis system to the client so they could easily understand how and where gaps needed to be filled.

The majority of required data was available from the client’s maintenance build system.

4 Execution Plan

Our team used a generic RBI approach to check material and fluid combinations against an existing Oceaneering database to identify any potential threats to the pressure system equipment.

The study also identified potential consequences of failure for each piece of equipment. This information was integrated into the client’s risk matrix to determine risk levels and establish requirements and frequencies of inspections. The identified inspection frequencies were created to be in alignment with the API requirements.

Generic RBI Process (1) | | Generic RBI Process (1)

Equipment grouping and identifying corrosion circuits proved a critical step to applying RBI in an efficient and consistent way. Once the grouping was complete, active and excursion-driven threats were identified. For active threats, a regular inspection was applied. However, for the excursion-driven threats, a monitoring system was put in place to detect corrosive components fluids. If any excursions are observed in the future, then inspections may be required. The monitoring system can be configured to include factors including pressure, temperature, CO2, chloride, pH, and water content.

Our scope of work included:

  1. Data gathering
  2. Completing material-fluid combination evaluation
  3. Identifying always-active and excursion-driven threats
  4. Reviewing materials and fluids specific to client’s project
  5. Developing an integrity operating window and key performance indicators (KPIs)
  6. Applying a generic consequence assessment
  7. Generating the risk matrix and inspection Intervals
  8. Detailing inspection requirements, including where and how to inspect

5 Results

The time and resource required for a comparable project offshore northwest Africa would typically be a team of four to five specialists working for one year.

By applying the generic RBI approach, the time and resources required for the project were reduced by 40%-50%. In addition, all RBI outcomes were aligned with the client’s maintenance build, ensuring all RBI were included in the client’s system, avoiding the time consuming re-loading of inspection requirements and KPI results.

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Company page Since our founding in the early 1960s, Oceaneering has expanded and grown globally to service several industries such as the offshore energy industry, defense, entertainment, material handling, aerospace, science, and renewable energy industries. In 1964, Mike Hughes and Johnny Johnson formed a Gulf of Mexico diving company called World Wide Divers. The company grew in response to increasing demand for their services and in 1969 merged with two other diving companies to form Oceaneering International, Inc. To solve the toughest challenges, we do things differently, creatively, and smarter. As your trusted partner, our unmatched experience and truly innovative portfolio of technologies and solutions give us the flexibility to adapt and evolve, regardless of market conditions. Our mission is to solve the unsolvable. We thrive by creating industry-changing technically creative solutions for the most complex operational challenges under water, on land, and in space. Our five core values establish a common culture and demonstrate what is most important for us as a company. Since the beginning, the company has transformed from a small regional diving company into a global provider of engineered products and services. Today, we develop products and services for use throughout the lifecycle of an offshore oilfield, from drilling to decommissioning. We operate the world's premier fleet of work class ROVs. Additionally, we are a leader in offshore oilfield maintenance services, umbilicals, subsea hardware, and tooling. We also serve the aerospace, defense, and theme park industries. Underpinning everything we do, safety is not only the foundation of our core values, but it is vital to our unmatched performance record and company culture. The industries we serve are as diverse as they are complex. Whether we are engineering deepwater umbilicals or developing robotics for aerospace applications, the safety and health of our employees, vendors, and customers is an integral part of our day-to-day business. If we are working, then our responsibility is to be working safely. Since our inception in 1964, we have placed a high value on employee safety—from diving services and subsea inspection to vessel-based installation operations. We have and will continue to evolve not only our health, safety, and environmental (HSE) processes, but those of the industries in which we work. Although we have been fatality-free since 1999, our HSE journey goes beyond statistics. As our portfolio of services has grown, we have continued to prioritize and advance our approach to HSE.