Life Extension Consultancy
Extending life while ensuring safety
The infrastructure built to safely extract and deliver energy is aging. Many offshore facilities were installed in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, many pipelines are even older and built in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Oil and gas production is expected to continue for many years but its infrastructure is approaching, or has exceeded its original design life. The energy transition will need the long-term transport of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and ammonia. Efficient use of resources to minimize the emissions generated in the construction of new infrastructure requires the industry to continue using these aging assets. Consequently the life of these assets must be extended, while ensuring the safety that society and regulators demand, and the cost effective operations investors expect.
Your benefits of our life extension consultancy services
Sustainable low carbon approach
Minimal disruption to operation
Documented justifiable life extension plans
Modification requirements for inspection
Long-term maintenance and repair plans
Remaining life and life extension studies
To quantify and extend an asset's operational life in a safe and reliable way while complying with industry best practice, legislation, OPEX budgets and production targets, we offer detailed remaining life and life extension studies.
A remaining life study involves expert review of future expected service, original design and construction, the identification of integrity threats, analysis of asset condition, with a particular focus on long-term degradation rates, and a review of practical options for inspection, maintenance and repair. The result is clear guidance on the cost effective remaining life of the asset before it is likely to require decommissioning due to safety concerns or excessive cost of maintenance.
A life extension study is similar except that more emphasis is placed on changes in inspection, maintenance and operations that would be needed to achieve a desired future life for the asset.
Pipeline life extension example
Our data driven approach follows guidance given in ISO 12747 and NORSOK Y-002, enhanced with our own extensive experience of pipelines around the world. Our comprehensive analysis covers design, construction, historical operations, and expected future service. We place the focus on remaining life of reported features, and any requirement to manage other threats that may develop with age.
- ILI Data Review and Cause Diagnosis (Determine the origin/cause of the reported features)
- Immediate Integrity Assessment (Do any features require any immediate action, like repair or further assessment?)
- Anomaly Growth Assessment (Evaluation of upper-bound growth rates for short-term integrity management planning and representative long-term rates that will ultimately limit cost-effective pipeline life)
- Future Integrity Assessment (What repairs/investigations are required prior to the next inspection?)
- Repair and Rehabilitation (Recommended repair options and guidance on damage prevention)
- Inspection and Maintenance Planning (Long-term plan for optimized inspections and maintenance/mitigation activity to extend life and assure condition)
Providing initial analysis, options review and inspection plan for a previously un-pigged pipeline
Integrity programs for pipelines generally require pigging and in-line inspection but some pipelines have never been pigged. The awareness of risks through pigging is vital, as opening pig traps and operating valves that are only used occasionally can be dangerous. Pigs can get hung-up, stuck, lost or damaged, which may entail a disruption or even a stop of normal operations. This costly risk can be avoided by means of good planning and project control involving engineers with the right experience.
Our pigging consultancy team provides you with a one-stop-shop, bringing together everything needed to complete a successful cleaning and inspection project. From initial analysis to reviewing all options to delivering the inspection itself – we have it all covered.
Supporting all stages of a repair cycle and rehabilitation schedule
A planned and structured repair and rehabilitation strategy is a critical component in ensuring pipeline integrity. Significant and widespread threats may develop over time; however, replacement of the damaged pipe section is often neither necessary nor reasonable due to high cost and disruption to pipeline operation. Our consultants support all stages of a repair cycle – from identifying the type, root cause and severity of the features, to modeling defect and repair to confirm long term performance. For damage that requires attention, we consider the feasibility of isolated repairs vs. rehabilitation vs. replacement, the type of rehabilitation and the rehabilitation schedule.
We help operators extending the operating life of critical pipelines in a cost-effective manner by:
- Reviewing and validating repair methods
- Developing manuals to define processes, set responsibilities, and aid communication
- Identifying, understanding and mitigating potential failure modes associated with repairs
- Reviewing and approving non-standard repair applications
- Producing company technical standards and procedures
- Extending the life of in-service repairs
Our know-how in technology
Our expertise in a wide range of integrity disciplines, such as corrosion, coatings, geotechnics, materials, defect assessment, stress analysis, technology qualification and field-intervention, allows us to provide you with cost-benefit analyses and cost-effective solutions for the rehabilitation and management of your pipeline for long-term service.