A Step Change in Managing Technical Integrity in the Oil and Gas Industry - A Case Study

Abstract

Today's business environment is more competitive and technologically complex. From a business perspective, managing risk and ensuring predictable and sustainable operations are vital necessities. Technical integrity plays a key role and the owner needs to have control of all facilities in terms of technical safety and production regularity both in a day-to-day and a lifetime perspective. Measuring and managing technical integrity is a the synthesis of several work processes like production, maintenance and inspection, modifications, safety reviews and technical audits, competence building and knowledge. This complexity makes it challenging to manage technical integrity in a coherent and consistent manner towards common and aligned business goals. The paper outlines Statoil's risk based approach to an integrated, cross-disciplinary system for management of technical integrity of offshore and onshore production facilities. An initiative was launched in 2010 to develop and implement a new technical integrity management for measuring and follow-up of the technical condition of safety barriers, well-, production- and transportation systems, and load bearing structures. This initiative was named TIMP - Technical Integrity Management Programme. The TIMP concept consists of:A comprehensive and ambitious competence programmeA standardised work process to follow up and visualise technical integrityA methodology to assess the technical condition at equipment-, system and facility levelAn IT tool to visualise the technical integrity and assist daily work processes. Details of each element of TIMP are further outlined in the paper, and the challenges and learning from the development and implementation of TIMP on 40 assets are summarized. While TIMP supports the daily work processes for managing the technical integrity of all production systems and safety barriers, a technical verification is carried out for all safety barriers every 5 years at all Statoil operated assets, offshore and onshore. This verification program is named Teknisk Tilstand Sikkerhet - TTS (eng: Technical Condition Safety) and together TIMP and TTS form the core technical integrity management for all assets operated by Statoil.

Barriers Involved in the Safety Management Systems: A Systematic Review of Literature

“…Essentially, dynamic barrier management is aimed at preventing the degradation of barrier elements and repairing degraded barriers [ 69 ]. For this purpose, in the offshore oil and gas industry, some companies develop and implement their own safety management programs that function similarly to the aforementioned dynamic barrier management, such as the manual of permitted operations (MOPO) and the tripod investigation approach pioneered by Shell [ 69 , 124 ], the performance monitoring approach adopted by BG [ 125 ], and the technical integrity management program (TIMP) initiated by Statoil [ 126 ]. More recently, DNV GL proposed a dynamic barrier management program with the objective of blowout prevention [ 127 ].…”

“…In the TTS program, all the critical safety barriers are evaluated in terms of their original design, conditions and operation, which are scored “A–F”. In 2010, another program named the technical integrity management program (TIMP) was launched by DNV GL to implement risk control in conjunction with TTS [ 126 ]. Recently, DNV GL published the guideline “ barrier management in operation for the rig industry—good practices ”, which aims to increase the understanding of barrier management at the management level and operational phase for both onshore and offshore [ 16 ].…”

The Impact of Technical Safety and Integrity Verification on Project Delivery and Asset Performance

“…From project inception to ongoing asset operation, these processes play a critical role in safeguarding personnel, protecting the environment, and maintaining operational excellence. Safety and integrity verification in the oil and gas industry involve comprehensive assessments of equipment, facilities, and processes to identify and mitigate risks associated with potential hazards such as leaks, explosions, and structural failures (Refsdal, and Ostby, 2014;). These verification activities encompass various aspects, including design reviews, inspections, testing, and certification, all aimed at verifying that assets meet specified safety standards and performance criteria.…”