Experts to Tackle Asset Integrity Challenges at SSIC

Jee’s Technical Director, Mike Hawkins will join experts from Statoil, Shell UK Limited and Taqa Bratani Limited, who will lead discussions at the Subsea Integrity Conference (SSIC) North Sea in Aberdeen on December 2-3 and address asset integrity issues facing the North Sea oil and gas industry. 

Jee Limited’s Technical Director, Mike Hawkins will deliver a technical case study on ‘The challenges of concealed corrosion on a critical gas riser’, at the conference which will draw on the expertise of many of the industry’s leading figures. Jee will also host an innovative post-conference integrity management training workshop.

Mr Hawkins commented: “In many cases, the infrastructure and the facilities in the North Sea are operating beyond their original design life. Therefore, coatings and systems that were designed for a 20 to 25 year life are now up to 45 years old, and some are even older than that.

“Managing the integrity of ageing assets in a cost-effective way is one of the major issues facing the industry today. Engineers and designers in the early days of offshore North Sea exploration could be forgiven for not anticipating the difficulty of detecting concealed corrosion in 2014, or the risk of water ingress under pipework insulation on assets that are still in use more than four decades after installation.”

Gathering world experts, the conference will seek to address these integrity issues, with speakers discussing the challenges facing the industry and how to overcome them.

“The first step in life extension is to understand as much as possible about the current condition of the asset. That in itself is not always straightforward, because you cannot always see what it is that you want to assess, for example, internal corrosion in a pipeline. Techniques exist, but you can’t always use them. In those cases, you have to take a more risk-based approach. You have to assess the likely degradation, and apply tolerances and safety factors to that to help manage the risk.

“The implementation of lifetime extension programmes that clearly identify the integrity implications of operating a subsea system or pipeline beyond the original design intent can also help to manage the integrity of ageing assets.  By understanding the risks of extended operation, it is possible to optimise the inspection and maintenance requirements for a system and, therefore, optimise operating expenditure,” concludes Mr Hawkins.

Mr Hawkins will be presenting alongside a range of expert speakers at the SSIC 2014, including:

• Runar Østebø, Advisor subsea technology and operations, Statoil;
• Michiel Jansen, Pipeline discipline head, Shell UK Limited;
• Tony Yates, Pipeline technical authority, TAQA Bratani Limited;
• Professor John Strutt, Chief consultant, Director, Astrimar Limited;
• Graham Rudrum, Flow assurance team leader, Shell.

Jee will also be hosting a taster training workshop immediately after the conference on 4 December.  The half day training session, open to Diamond pass SSIC tickets holders, will allow delegates to gain an introduction to pipeline integrity management, learn about how to develop a Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS) and identify issues and assess a range of integrity threats to ensure safety, efficiency and reliability of subsea assets.

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