Subsea umbilical cables are subject to corrosion, hydrostatic pressure, high internal pressures and near-freezing temperatures. Stresses from movement in a riser, a floating rig, and the ocean currents themselves are common. Because of these conditions, testing your ocean cable hardware is necessary and should be mandatory. Understanding failure mechanisms is the best way to anticipate problems before they occur.
Everyone and everything, from oil and gas operators to offshore personnel and the environment, benefits from avoiding subsea equipment failures. That’s why the industry spends huge sums every year on inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) programs. Taking a more intelligent approach to IMR planning can also deliver lower risks and lower costs.
Rather than sticking to rigid service and inspection intervals, operators can use equipment condition, process and other field data, along with historic performance information on shared industry databases, to predict deterioration and intervene only when necessary. This optimized way of managing IMR is part of today’s holistic, risk-based approach to integrity management for subsea and many other types of assets, on and offshore.
Read more from growthmarkets-oil.com and how effective risk assessment can be the difference between triumph and disaster.
