Our clients were managing an aging pipeline with integrity concerns: how often to inspect and what if renewal instead? The plant’s Chief Inspector was concerned that insufficient inspection was being carried out on the aging ethylene pipeline. The pipe was being monitored annually using ultrasonic wall thickness measurements, following a Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) study. Nevertheless, he considered that the company was at risk of being forced to repair or renew the pipeline at short notice if an ethylene leak or pipeline burst were to occur or the corrosion allowance was found to have been exceeded.
We were called to support a multi-disciplined team study of the optimal inspection program using the SALVO Process. This provides a structured navigation and evaluation discipline to ensure all factors, stakeholder
interests, uncertainties, and scenarios were explored, quantified, and evaluated on a consistent and auditable basis. This case involved a small team comprising inspectors, operations, maintenance, finance and insurance, risk management, and process safety personnel. It used a mixture of known historical data (previous measurements, costs, etc.), expert knowledge, and some prior RBI studies to help in estimating the ongoing degradation rates (if such information had not been available, the process facilitates the capture of optimistic and pessimistic extremes of expert opinion and explored these for decision sensitivity).
It needed just 2 hours to build the base case scenario, using the appropriate SALVO storyboard and DST Inspection Evaluator™ software to model the risks, costs, and operational options available. The team also developed a number of alternative scenarios, such as the effect of pipeline re-lining or replacement, to explore the impact of the optimum solution.
The study, including testing for sensitivity for all sources of data uncertainty, revealed the following:
Scheduling the next inspection in 3 months’ time instead of waiting for the RBI-derived timing of 12 months, would reduce the risk of forced repairs and downtime by c.$31,000/month. This earlier intervention is mainly justified by the risk of forced repair and downtime if the corrosion allowance is exceeded (blue line in the graph) rather than the integrity risk (red line). The study also considered the effect of replacing the pipe on a planned basis. This would significantly reduce the risks and need for monitoring: below, the comparison graph shows the cost/ risk reduction if such a renewal were to occur: these form inputs to the Capex valuation, which would use the corresponding SALVO evaluation the process to justify investment and optimal timing.
The Woodhouse Partnership would be delighted to show you how the SALVO process and Decision Support Tools™ can be implemented to benefit your business, contact us now for a free initial consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.
Mutual Energy has been recognised for effective asset management of critical infrastructure by achieving ISO 55001 certification.
This study was commissioned to ascertain the business case for re-tubing and to evaluate the life cycle cost benefits of alternative materials.
David Curtis, Director, Engineering Talent Management at Hydro One talks us through their experience with the Woodhouse Partnership and benefits of refining their asset management practices.
Over his 28 plus year span in the industrial sectors with working technical backgrounds in Project & Construction Management, Asset Operations and Maintenance Reliability Management, and being certified in various courses of study; Damien has gained the knowledge and experience and has had proven successes throughout his tenure in the Oil, Gas, Petro-Chemical and Construction sectors. Establishing his-self in the various sectors, Damien’s first experience and success started in the Construction Sector in estimating engineering. This was the stepping stone for Damien and has paved the way for his passion and continued success in supporting People, Process, and Systems in an organization.
Damien has held positions in local, international and multi-national corporations and comes from a working background in the fields of environmental, operations, project and construction management, operations maintenance and reliability management, planning, supervisory management, and has proven his abilities to succeed in each field.
Rich was an Engineer and Project Manager professional at the New York Power Authority for over 30-years. In addition to being the first Project Manager for the Niagara Project Upgrade, Rich rose to be the Vice President of Engineering having started in Operations Engineering decades earlier. Rich went on to be Vice President, Transmission and Substation at AECOM responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in design and construction. Rich joined Woodhouse Partnership, North America and participates in aligning organization towards ISO 55000 and many reliability studies supporting DST.
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Our Asset Management Academy is pleased to announce 2023 dates for our Masterclass – the benchmark for personal development and competency recognition for Asset Management Professionals
Executive in Operational Excellence, Asset Management and Best Practices in Projects, Operations and Maintenance in the Energy and Industrial Sector.
Consultant, Instructor and International Lecturer on issues related to project management (risk management), operational reliability, strategic management of operations, maintenance, Asset Management in the energy sector (ISO 55001) and Applied Data Analytics.
PMP, CMRP, IAM and CAMA certifications, being recognized by the SMRP in 2019 as CMRP of the Year https://smrp.org/2019-CMRP-Winners.
George has over twenty-five years of experience as a consulting engineer providing design, planning, program and project management, and strategic asset management services for asset-intensive organizations in the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. His primary focus has been in the public infrastructure sector; as a result, he has intimate knowledge of the assets, processes, and resources necessary to deliver and sustain safe, reliable services to the customers of public asset-owning organizations.
George has assisted organizations with the development of PAS 55, ISO 55000, and GFMAM AM Landscape aligned asset management systems (AMS), has performed gap analyses of their AMS against industry standards and best practices, and has guided them through the creation of strategic asset management plans (SAMPs), asset management plans (AMPs), AM policy and supporting documents. He has undertaken asset risk modelling to ascertain organizations’ capability to sustain their desired levels of service. George has performed asset health-informed lifecycle cost modelling and forecasting capital and operational expenditures over near and long-term planning horizons.
With 30 years’ experience in utilities, oil & gas, transport and other sectors, John is one of the most widely known experts in integrated asset management projects for some of the largest companies in the world.
John is a Founder and Life Fellow of the IAM; he has written 4 books, chaired the development of BSI PAS55 and represents the UK on the ISO55000 committee.
He also led the international MACRO and SALVO collaboration projects in optimised asset management decision-making.
