Title : Success story in enhancing the reliability of sea water injection used for oil production
Abstract:
The seawater plant and its associated piping networks suffers from the multiple causes of corrosion, and one of the most causes, is the Microbial Influenced Corrosion. As the control of corrosion requires deep study of the process/system, through a formal corrosion management program. Sitting robust program requires monitoring the process, collecting and analyzing data, develop action plan and then establish roles and responsibility to each involved individual and/or organization. The journey took long time to finally prove the effectiveness of the program. This paper summarizes a success journey in enhancing the plant reliability and availability through effective corrosion control. The corrosion control program is summarized under 5 pillars:
- Stakeholder Engagement.
- Data Analysis.
- Corrosion Management Program.
- Processes and Procedures Enhancement.
- Capital Investments.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Engaging all stakeholder, and in particular the organization’s leadership, was a key factor behind this success journey. The higher-level management were involved in most of the technical challenges and as a result all support was obtained in a smoother way, since they are well aware about consequences of the corrosion related failures. Also, the other organizations that are involved with us in the process of the sea water were closely involved with us, through the corrosion management program that was formally concurred by them.
Data Analysis
Starting the real work of developing corrosion management program requires massive work in analyzing all data available, such as process design and actual parameters, design and actual specification of the sea water, costumer input and concerns, lab data, failure analysis, leaks history… etc. After spending enough time in analyzing the available data, the team agreed to enhance the analysis through:
- Installing Additional instruments (analyzers, monitors, transmitters, … etc.).
- Introduce additional sampling location.
- Change the frequency of the sampling.
- Review and adjust the sampling procedures.
Afterward, the team developed a road map to enhance the data analysis. Data were analyzed and corrosion management program was adjusted accordingly as needed.
Corrosion Management Program
Developing the corrosion management is an important step in order to have governance in all efforts being done toward controlling the corrosion. It also insures sustaining the high performance and serves as a good reference for the organization. The corrosion management program was developed by our corrosion engineers, and then reviewed and concurred by the central engineering entity in the corporate.
Processes and Procedure Enhancement
As majority of the corrosion management program items are assigned to operation and maintenance, and in order to ensure they are formally assigned, the corrosion engineers reviewed the current manuals and the formal reference documents in the organization and added items assigned to each unit in the department. These efforts resulted in a better alignment between the corrosion management program and the other operation documents and manuals.
Capital Investment
The corrosion management program, and based on the analysis done by the corrosion engineers, involves short term and long-term action plans to enhance the corrosion control. Action plan were basically considered as multiple projects with different size. The organization built valid and solid convincing case to the corporate Finance team were approval was obtained based on both technical and financial analysis.
Outcomes
As a result of implementing the corrosion management program, the organization successfully achieved the below outcomes:
- Number of water leaks was dropped by more than 70%.
- Enhanced specifications of the processed sea water.
- Enhanced the lab analysis in terms of sample locations, frequency, procedures, etc
- Higher equipment availability % for the corrosion related plant equipment such as hypochlorite generators/pumps.
- Clear road map on the corrosion control presented to the department head, attended by all stake holder, to track the progress of the road map.
