(118a) Temporary Equipment Risk

Traditionally, risk assessment programs in the oil & gas industry have focused on permanent equipment installations that are continuously operated. Risk assessments for temporary equipment have typically been addressed using qualitative or heuristic means compared to the data-driven approach used for permanent equipment However, given the volume and relative complexity of temporary equipment being used on many sites, the associated risk may be than originally thought. This elevated risk profile is due in part to the fact that temporary operations often have less automation than permanent set ups and rely on the presence of field personnel instead of remote monitoring. This means the likelihood of a significant consequence may exceed that of the permanent facilities. Additionally, the equipment is often owned by third party business partners who may not follow the same risk assessment and reporting procedures as operators and may have different risk tolerances. Maintenance and testing of vendor equipment can often be an unknown if there is no contractual obligation for the business partner to accommodate company requests for minimum maintenance requirements.

This presentation will explore the unique challenges of managing process safety risk through an upstream oil and gas business lens where third party business partners support all phases of the well life cycle; from drilling and completions to production facility operations and decommissioning. By cooperating with stakeholders, we have been able to identify potential hazards and, improve our safeguarding strategies, and develop shared operating procedures to close the identified gaps. We have also developed processes for managing potential changes to the temporary equipment designs to establish an evergreen risk management process. Lessons learned from our processes and program development will be discussed.