Risk Based Inspection Study Challenges - An EPC Contractor's Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narayana Swamy Nallamothu ◽  
Gelu Dragos Anghel ◽  
Harendra Singh ◽  
Faris Ragheb Kamal

1.0 Abstract In order to develop an effective inspection program for the early operational phase, Risk Based Inspection (RBI) study is included as a standard requirement in recent EPC Oil & Gas Projects. Conventionally, RBI study was managed by Operators, however nowadays EPC contractors are mandated to execute the same. This paper discusses the challenges faced by EPC Contractor during the execution of RBI study and provides an approach for timely completion of study. RBI study involves enormous data gathering and risk assessment to identify critical equipment, piping systems to optimize inspection programs and recommends inspection frequencies, locations and techniques. In addition, RBI study covers potential damage mechanisms identification, risk ranking and identification of potential hot spots for development of inspection program. RBI is normally performed based on risk assessment methodologies derived from International Standards such as API 580/581, DNV RP G101and applicable Operator guidelines. Specialized software is widely used for carrying out integrated activities involving failure probability, consequence assessment and inspection details. Finally, RBI inspection programs are integrated with Computerized Maintenance Management System. In order to execute RBI study successfully, a specialized third-party Consultant is normally engaged., Further alignment of all stakeholders including RBI study specialist is essential to address the following: - Timely availability of "As-built" data for study such as baseline inspection survey reports Agreement on design data versus baseline inspection data for RBI analysis Agreement on appropriate RBI approach: quantitative vs. semi-quantitative/qualitative Acceptance of RBI software Agreement on inspection program recommendations including hot spots, inspection intervals RBI study activities can be effectively initiated once the equipment fabrication records, piping isometrics, baseline reports and hydro-test data are available. In case of pipelines, inline inspection data should be the initial basis for the pipeline RBI assessment. EPC contractors normally face following challenges during RBI study execution: Delay in finalizing the study due to lack of "As-built" data Inconsistency between the outcomes of Corrosion Risk Assessment Study and RBI study performed by third party due to different corrosion modeling software Implications on selected material of construction as a result of RBI Study findings Ensuring compatibility of RBI templates with Operators CMMS. NPCC, as a large EPC company, has extensive experience in various Oil & Gas projects where RBI studies are developed in recent EPC projects and ensuring the integrity of the newly constructed assets. This paper attempts to address the challenges faced by EPC Contractor during execution of RBI studies; emphasizing the strategic considerations to be adopted for successful and timely completion of the study, providing benefits to the End users.

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Fenty Simanjuntak ◽  
Bobby Suryajaya

Many banks are looking for a better core banking system to support their business growth with a more efficient and flexible core banking system to improve their sales and services in the competitive market and to fulfill regulatory requirements. The decision of replacing the legacy core banking system is difficult due to the high IT investment cost required for banks because they are also trying to cut costs. But maintaining the legacy system is costly in terms of upgrade. Changing the core banking system is also a difficult process and increases risks. To have a successful Core Banking System implementation, risk assessment is required to be performed prior to starting any activities. The assessment can help project teams to identify the risks and then to mitigate the risks as part of the plan. In this research the Core Banking System replacement risks were assessed based on ISACA Framework for IT Risk. Fourteen risk scenarios related to Core Banking System Replacement were identified. The high and medium rated inherent risks can become medium and low residual risk after assessment by putting the relevant control in place. The result proves that by adding mitigation plan it will help to mitigate the Residual Risk to become low risk. There are still three residual risk which categorized as medium risk and should be further mitigated they are Software Implementation, Project Delivery and Selection/Performance of Third Party Suppliers. It is also found that COBIT 5 has considered some specific process capabilities that can be used to improve the processes to mitigate the medium risks.


Author(s):  
Eric Golson

ABSTRACTIn September 1939, Portugal made a realist strategic choice to preserve the Portuguese Empire maintaining by its neutrality and also remaining an ally of Great Britain. While the Portuguese could rely largely on their colonies for raw materials to sustain the mainland, the country had long depended on British transportation for these goods and the Portuguese military. With the British priority now given to war transportation, Portugal's economy and Empire were particularly vulnerable. The Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar sought to mitigate this damage by maintaining particularly friendly financial relations with the British government, including increased exports of Portuguese merchandise and services and permission to accumulate credits in Sterling to cover deficits in the balance of payments. This paper gives an improved set of comprehensive statistics for the Anglo-Portuguese and German–Portuguese relationships, reported in Pounds and according to international standards. The reported statistics include the trade in merchandise, services, capital flows, loans and third-party transfers of funds in favour of the British account. When compared with the German statistics, the Anglo-Portuguese figures show the Portuguese government favoured the British in financial relations, an active choice by Salazar to maintain the Portuguese Empire.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 565
Author(s):  
Yunja Yoo ◽  
Han-Seon Park

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) published the Guidelines on Maritime Cyber Risk Management in 2017 to strengthen cybersecurity in consideration of digitalized ships. As part of these guidelines, the IMO recommends that each flag state should integrate and manage matters regarding cyber risk in the ship safety management system (SMS) according to the International Safety Management Code (ISM Code) before the first annual verification that takes place on or after 1 January 2021. The purpose of this paper is to identify cybersecurity risk components in the maritime sector that should be managed by the SMS in 2021 and to derive priorities for vulnerability improvement plans through itemized risk assessment. To this end, qualitative risk assessment (RA) was carried out for administrative, technical, and physical security risk components based on industry and international standards, which were additionally presented in the IMO guidelines. Based on the risk matrix from the RA analysis results, a survey on improving cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the maritime sector was conducted, and the analytic hierarchy process was used to analyze the results and derive improvement plan priority measures.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (9) ◽  
pp. 1481-1487 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Celebi ◽  
S. Özdemir

Large-scale mining activities have a huge impact on the environment. Determination of the size of the effect and monitoring it is vital. In this study, risk assessment studies in mining areas and the effect of mining on groundwater and ecosystems were investigated. Best management practices and risk assessment steps were determined, especially in areas with huge amounts of mining wastewater. The pollution of groundwater and its reaching humans is a risk of major importance. Our study showed, using many cases with different parameters and countries, that the management of mining wastewater is vital. Environmental impact assessments and monitoring studies must be carried out before operation and at the closure of the mine. Policies must be in place and ready to apply. Factors of climate, geology, ecology and human health must be considered over a long period. Currently, only the developed countries are applying policies and paying attention to the risk. International assessments and health risk assessments should be carried out according to international standards.


Author(s):  
James R. Walker ◽  
Paul Mallaburn ◽  
Derek Balmer

Historically, pipeline operators have tended to place more weight on inline inspection tool specifications than on the inherent design and reporting capabilities of the service providers themselves. While internal collection of integrity data is very important, it’s imperative that vendors, also, have high levels of expertise and effective quality control systems in place to successfully analyze exceedingly high volumes of inspection data. The quality of inspection information is vital to assessing if a pipeline is fit for purpose now and/or into the future. Integrity managers attempting to reduce overall operating risk by making decisions based on inaccurate or poor quality reporting are in fact exposing their networks to greater safety and financial risk. Recognizing these risks and that inline inspection (ILI) is an overall system that needs to be formally qualified, operators and ILI service providers have collaborated to develop several international standards. The most recent is the umbrella API-1163 industry consensus standard, which is now being widely adopted, primarily in USA. This standard provides requirements and recommended practices for qualification of the entire ILI process. Two companion standards: ASNT In-line Personnel Qualification and Certification Standard No. ILI-PQ and NACE Recommended Practice In-Line Inspection of Pipelines RP0102 combine to address specific requirements for personnel who operate and analyze the results of ILI systems. In Europe, the Pipeline Operators Forum (POF) has, also, established specific requirements for ILI reporting processes and data formats. However, these standards do not define how operators and vendors must meet these requirements. To follow will be a story about how an ILI service provider embraced a holistic approach to address these standards’ requirements, in particular in the areas of data analysis, reporting, and dig verification due to their significant importance in assuring the final quality of its deliverables. A key outcome desired will be to provide operators with greater insight into what best practices and technologies ILI service providers should have embraced and invested in to insure reliable service delivery.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-234
Author(s):  
Ana Monteiro ◽  
Daniel Ferreira

The purpose of this article is to assess the risk for preventing the execution of arbitral awards made against Sovereign States due to the State’s immunity shield. Given the importance of an accurate asset pricing in the business of third-party funding (TPF), the topic entails a particular relevance to the current context of globalized litigation in light of its contribution to the promotion of TPF at the international arbitration community. After reviewing the literature on TPF, on the peculiarities of investment and commercial arbitrations against States and on the evolution of State immunity (also in terms of domestic legislation, considering the local laws passed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia), the article aims explore how the funder should incorporate into its risk assessment the risk of not executing awards rendered against Sovereign States.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-104
Author(s):  
Radojica Lazić

Money laundering is increasingly becoming an issue of concern to the international community, as the states have realized that the harmonious activity of all international actors through the observance of the foreseen international standards is the most effective way of combating this type of crime. International documents have established a basic framework of activities for combating money laundering. This paper is focused on the analysis of the activities of international entities and their role in creating international standards in this field, as well as the impact of money laundering on various aspects of society and countries. In this connection, the paper first explains the international entities, then states their roles and all the most important international documents and then the results of the money laundering risk assessment in the Republic of Serbia with special emphasis on the criminal offenses with high degree threats for money laundering. Furthermore, it points to the importance of international entities and standards for the establishment of national systems that will be able to respond to the effects of money laundering and thereby create a successful financial system. Finally, the paper concludes that without the existence of international standards and activities of the international entities, appropriate conditions for effective combating of money laundering cannot be created, thereby providing more favorable conditions for the free flow of people and capital, as well as easier management of financial systems.


Author(s):  
Jaime Aristizabal ◽  
Daniel Moncada

Abstract At the end of 2018, a large-scale landslide was identified near the Right of Way of one of the pipelines operated by Cenit Transporte y Logística de Hidrocarburos. In this zone it was possible to identify a populated area and a river. At the beginning the depth of the Landslide did not represent a hazard to the pipeline due to the Horizontal Directional Drilling technique applied when the pipeline was built. A monitoring program was developed through inclinometers and piezometers and In-Line Inspections were carried out to identify any disturbance in the alignment of the pipeline. From the monitoring program and In-Line Inspection data it was possible to confirm interaction between the landslide and the pipeline. A perpendicular force to the pipeline alignment produces a bending strain at two points, and landslide interact with the pipeline along a length of 170 m. The depth of the landslide failure surface was in between 17 to 22 m, and the pipeline was about 15 m deep. Due to this interaction, it was necessary to develop a risk assessment to identify a safe limit displacement. For a while, this allowed us to design both a temporal innovative solution considering a flexible pipeline and a definitive solution to build the new segment of the pipeline which was deeper than the last one, through the Horizontal Directional Drilling technique.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Snell ◽  
Arman Dehghani ◽  
Fabian Guenkzkofer ◽  
Stefan Kaltenbrunner

Musculoskeletal disorders continue to be a leading source of lost workdays across all industries. Common ergonomics assessment tools may include criteria extraneous to the stresses at specific companies or industries. Therefore, the creation of assessment tools, based on scientifically validated methods, with industry- or company-specific stresses may be of benefit. The BMW Group has developed the Safety and Ergonomics Risk Assessment (SERA) tool. This ergonomics assessment method incorporates the most up-to-date scientific methods and international standards, and is used worldwide in all production facilities of the BMW Group. As noted above, a major advantage of SERA over conventional ergonomics tools is the focus on ergonomics stresses common to automobile manufacturing and the consequent exclusion of irrelevant parameters, thereby reducing the time, effort, and training required for workplace assessments. Other advantages include the international uniformity of assessments and a web- and database-implementation allowing for easily comparable international reporting. The implementation of this method at the BMW Group has enabled a greater transparency for ergonomics across all international plants, and more effective and targeted ergonomics interventions. This publication will outline the basic motivation for SERA, highlight the relevant scientific sources and international standards, and general steps of an evaluation.


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