American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2015 - 85

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SpecialReport: Insurance Update
on an offshore platform, where space is
limited. "The person in charge of the
platform has to decide whether a bed
goes to an assistant driller to keep the
drilling program on track, a well services
expert who can restore existing wells, or
the person who is going to paint the superstructure so it resists corrosion," Neill
says.
Companies try to prioritize maintenance on safety-critical equipment (SCE),
but because there is so much equipment
on an offshore platform with a safety
function, Neill says they still face hard
decisions. This is particularly true as
platforms age. He cites a report by Oil
& Gas UK estimating that in the second
half of 2014, the average offshore platform
in the North Sea had more than 4,000
man hours of deferred maintenance on
SCE. Worryingly, the trend is showing
an increase in deferred SCE maintenance
each period, Neill says.
"To help companies understand the
impact of deferring maintenance,
Petrotechnics has developed software that
looks at the state of various safety barriers
to calculate aggregate risk," he reports.
"This software shows how barriers in
poor condition lead to elevated risk, allowing operators to make more informed
decisions about what they cannot afford
to defer."
The software interfaces with work
planning and scheduling applications, so
it considers how barrier conditions interact
with planned activities, Neill says. "Suppose there is a potential containment
issue, such as a corroded pipe that could
leak gas, in an area where the schedule
calls for welding or other 'hot' work.
Since the work will introduce an ignition
source, the overall level of risk will go
up even more than it would for the potential leak or hot work by themselves,"
he illustrates.
Other problems, such as leak detection
systems that may be poorly maintained
or deluge systems that may be plugged,
elevate risk as well, he says. "After
looking at the information, the operator
may decide it is not a good idea to do the
planned hot work. But if the operator
moved unplugging the deluge system up
on the schedule and checked for gas leaks
in the area, he could do the hot work and
the rest of the planned activity safely,"
Neill relates.
"Information on barrier condition may
be available already, but is often hidden
in inspection and maintenance databases,"

New software from Petrotechnics helps operators track the condition of critical safety
barriers and estimate the risk of planned activities. The company expresses hope these
capabilities will prevent incidents by enabling users to prioritize barrier maintenance
and warning them about particularly dangerous periods.

Neill notes. "A conscientious shift supervisor or production manager will look
for safety hazards before initiating work,
but the problem may be on a pipe that is
hidden behind insulation. With the software, we are trying to get barrier information out of silos so people in the office
and on the front line have the latest information.
"Our goal is not to provide all the an-

swers," he allows. "Instead, we want to
raise a flag when risk levels peak so
people can make informed decisions about
whether to proceed. If they do, they will
be more alert to signs of danger and
more likely to react appropriately. I am
hoping that will reduce the number of
incidents where we look back and say,
'If only we had known then what we
know now!'"

DECEMBER 2015 85

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2015

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