Page 332 - Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Second Edition

Production Operations and Maintenance 319

address) and external systems (telephone and internet, telex, fax, telemetry, VHF
radio and satellite links). These systems are designed to handle the day-to-day
communications as well as emergency situations.
If the development is so far from shore that direct line of sight communication is
not possible, then satellite communications will be installed, with one platform
acting as a satellite link for the area.
In case of a major disaster, one platform in a region will be equipped to act as a
control centre from which rescue operations are co-ordinated. Evacuation routes
will be provided, and where large complexes are clustered together, a standby vessel
will be available in the region to supply emergency services such as fire fighting and
rescue.

12.2.5. Measurement and control of operating costs
As discussed in Chapters 14 and 16, the management of OPEX is a major issue,
since initial estimates of OPEX are often far exceeded in reality, and may threaten
the overall profitability of a project. Within the FDP, it is therefore useful to specify
the system which will be used to measure the OPEX. Without measuring OPEX,
there is no chance of managing it. This will involve the joint effort of production
operations, finance and accounting and the development managers.
The projection of OPEX should be budgeted on an annual basis, to reflect
the annual work programme for the following year. Maintaining good records of
actual operating costs simplifies the process of budgeting for the future, as well as
comparing actual expenditure with budget. These statements sound obvious, but
require a considerable amount of integrated effort to perform effectively.

12.3. Maintenance Engineering Input to the FDP

In conjunction with the production operations input into the FDP, describing
how the process will be operated, maintenance engineering will outline how the
equipment will be maintained. Maintenance is required to ensure that equipment is
capable of safely performing the tasks for which it was designed. This is often stated
as maintaining the ‘technical integrity’ of the equipment.
The mechanical performance of equipment is likely to deteriorate with use due
to wear, corrosion, erosion, vibration, contamination and fracture, which may lead
to failure. Since this would threaten a typical production objective of meeting
quality and quantity specifications, the maintenance engineering department
provides a service which helps to safely achieve the production objective.
The service provided by maintenance engineering was traditionally that of
repairing equipment items when they failed. This is no longer the case, and a
maintenance department is now proactive rather than reactive in its approach.
Maintenance of equipment items will be an important consideration in the FDP,
because the mode and cost of maintaining equipment play an important part in the
facilities design and in the mode of operation.