ADNOC Gas Processing Reduces Inspection Tasks by 44% with Improved Asset Integrity Program

With a capacity of 8 billion standard cubic feet per day, ADNOC Gas Processing, part of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, operates one of the world’s largest gas processing plants.  The plant processes gas from onshore and offshore sources to produce a range of products, including methane, ethane, propane, butane, paraffinic naphtha, condensates and sulphur.

As safety and environmental constraints increase, operators must ensure the safe operation and containment of their processes. Mechanical integrity regulations require the capture of volumes of data to ensure equipment is designed, fabricated, installed, operated, and maintained properly to mitigate associated risks. This amount of data can be difficult to manage, making it increasingly difficult to understand current risk levels and drive optimization of mechanical integrity inspection and engineering resources.

In 2013, ADNOC Gas Processing began what would become a phased approach to reach a full-scale Risk Based Inspection (RBI-581) methodology, which will ultimately save millions and reduce inspection tasks by 44%.

Forging an Inspection Management Path

Using GE Digital’s Asset Performance Management (APM) software, the company set out to enable its large-scale inspection management and thickness monitoring programs. Inspection management allows asset owners and operators to document the condition of an asset and track inspection recommendations to closure from a single source. As for thickness monitoring, it defines the overall non-destructive testing (NDT) strategy for an asset, including the calculation methods, inspection intervals, and actual corrosion rates.

Most inspection programs are mandated by regulatory agencies with the power to apply significant penalties for non-compliance. To improve cost-effectiveness, many organizations are turning to Risk Based Inspection (RBI) practices as a preferred methodology. The RBI methodology is based on and has been certified as complying with American Petroleum Institute (API) standards 580 and 581. The methodology supports the ability to assess the likelihood and consequences of failures to optimize inspection rigor based on overall risk. The visual surveillance and inspection of both fixed and linear assets are critical elements in assessing the current condition of the asset and avoiding equipment failures. RBI can be seamlessly integrated into inspection management and maintenance programs.

RBI was already in place at ADNOC Gas Processing using a standalone solution and a semi-quantitative approach for RBI (API-580 compliant). A custom interface was built to bring the results to GE Digital’s APM Integrity software to enable the implementation and execution of the risk-based inspection strategies.

Raising the Bar with RBI-581 and APM

In order to apply fully quantitative RBI assessment, as well as take advantage of the inspection and thickness monitoring history that is already managed in GE Digital’s APM software, ADNOC Gas Processing adopted the RBI-581 methodology for all its sites in 2017.

Setting high expectations for both its internal team and partners, and with a focus on creating a positive environment for internal adoption, the company proposed an aggressive 18-month timeline to implement and achieve full benefits of its decision to adopt RBI-581 for its fixed assets.

GE Digital subject matter experts and technical teams worked closely with ADNOC Gas Processing and its integrity partner, ISQ, to enable data loaders and bulk RBI analysis calculation and make recommendations. The implementation was carried out throughout 2018 as part of an upgrade to the GE Digital's APM solution.

In 2019, ADNOC Gas Processing further expanded its RBI-581 program to cover pressure relief devices (PRD) in order to:

• Gain an acceptance/understanding of the current risk
• Provide an overall reduction in risk
• Optimize PRD inspection plans

Working together over the course of nine months, the joint GE Digital and ADNOC Gas Processing team developed the required data loaders templates that enabled ADNOC Gas Processing and its partner, Petrofac, to benefit from the bulk loading and calculations capabilities of the APM software. In addition to overall support and guidance on the RBI-PRD methodology and procedures, GE Digital also helped generate the related inspection reports that are integrated with RBI assessments.

ADNOC Gas Processing’s RBI-581 adoption involved assessment of 176,000 RBI components, including analysis, damage mechanism review, data collection, risk calculation, and generation of recommendation and inspection plans for fixed assets. PRD-RBI adoption covered 11,000 protected pressure devices and rupture disks, including Probability of Failure (PoF) assessment for failed-to-open and leak scenarios, and Consequence of Failure (CoF) for overpressure protected assets and leaks

The GE Digital product management team worked closely with the project team to make sure the latest features were available to accelerate the delivery of the project within the expected timeline.

Improved Risk Management Workflow Reduces Inspection Tasks by 44 Percent and Optimizes Inspection Costs Drastically

The PRD-RBI Program was completed in mid-2020, achieving full utilization of the capabilities of the APM RBI-581 features.

Since adoption of the RBI-581 and GE Digital's APM, ADNOC Gas Processing has eliminated 44 percent of unnecessary inspection tasks and costs.

Several actions are being assessed in order to sustain the results and further improve the ADNOC Gas Processing Mechanical Integrity program, including adoption of an Integrity Operating Window (IOW) management program enabled by GE Digital's APM solution as well as implementation of mobile technologies to improve field personnel effectiveness.

Plant engineers are also focused on continued improvement of integrity management effectiveness by developing even better KPIs, using the metrics and scorecards capabilities.