Asset Integrity Management helps avoid unplanned downtime in the oil and gas industry – it encompasses the complete lifecycle of an asset, right from design to decommissioning. AIM also helps avoid related safety and environmental incidents. Without proper asset integrity management, installations are at risk of incidents that could have considerable adverse safety, economic, environmental damage.
What Is Asset Integrity Management?
Asset Integrity Management services for the oil and gas industry refers to a system that ensures assets perform their required functions relating to health, safety, and environment. Thus, the right people, structure, and processes must be in place to perform whenever required and mitigate any unintended release of hazardous materials or energy.
How Is Asset Integrity Management Applied?
As stated earlier, AIM helps manage the capability of an asset to function efficiently throughout its lifetime. AIM also ensures that the systems, processes, and people who deliver the assets’ integrity are in place and can perform when required.
AIM can be performed by various means, including inspection, auditing, overall quality processing, etc. A typical Asset Integrity Management program includes:
- Risk-based Inspection
- Fitness for Service
- Remaining Life Assessment
- Corrosion Risk Assessment
- Corrosion Management System
- Plant Life Extension
- Reliability Centered Maintenance
- Training Courses
Thus, assets are maintained in a fit-for-service condition throughout their lifecycle, cost-effectively, and safely. AIM programmes are conducted to ensure compliance with API-580, API-581, and PAS 55 requirements.
What Are the Challenges In Implementing Asset Integrity Management?
Given the dynamic industrial landscape, businesses must produce high-quality products at competitive prices. This is especially true for oil and gas operators who always have to maintain a safe and environmentally friendly facility and keep their production equipment in optimum condition. . To achieve this, all oil and petrochemical business stakeholders must have a common and consistent understanding of Asset Integrity and how it can be implemented in everyday operations. This, however, is easier said than done.
How Does Asset Integrity Management Help Solve This Problem?
Through successful AIM implementation, businesses can ensure that the people, systems, and processes involved in integrity management are in place throughout the asset’s lifecycle. The process also requires that the balance between resources and assets are well-structured and maintained to ensure a well management asset.
Asset Integrity Management solutions in the UK combine mechanical integrity technologies with traditional and advanced inspection techniques to ensure a comprehensive asset management portfolio. To this end, AIM based services offer asset integrity management software packages that help in various stages of Asset Integrity Management, viz. RBLX RBI software, FITest FFS software, Fusion Life Software.
Through Asset Integrity Management Programmes, businesses can improve their equipment’s reliability, reduce equipment failures and instances that lead to safety and environmental incidents, improve product consistency, reduce unplanned maintenance costs, reduce operation costs, improve contractor performance, and comply with government regulations.