4CSN January 7, 2010 IS THE PROCESS SAFETY BEAR REAL FOR YOU?

4CSNJanuary 7, 2010

IS THE PROCESS SAFETY BEAR REAL

FOR YOU?

4CSNJanuary 7, 2010

What

Is

“PROCESS SAFETY”?

Process Safety Definition – The Official BP Version

• Process Safety is a disciplined framework for managing the integrity of hazardous operating systems and processes by applying good design principles, engineering and operating practices.

It deals with the prevention and control of incidents that have the potential to release hazardous materials or energy.

Such incidents can cause toxic effects, fire or explosion and could ultimately result in serious injuries, property damage, lost production and environmental impact.(2007, CCPS with BP additions in blue)

Process Safety Definition – The Official BP Version

HUH?

Process Safety Definition – Put Simply

It’s how we DESIGN, MAINTAIN and OPERATE our kit in a way that keeps energy away from people (i.e. the

product stays inside the pipe and its energy is controlled)

Good process safety prevents incidents that could release hazardous materials or energy. In our case gas, condensate, produced water and chemicals can cause

toxic effects, fires and/or explosions, resulting in serious injuries, property damage, lost production and

environmental impact.

This is really important because process safety events (when this stuff gets out) can be very serious indeed for workers and the public and history tells us it costs lives

e.g. Texas City

What it means for BP in the San Juan Basin

• We will design and construct our facilities to good engineering standards

• We will be very thoughtful about making changes if we don’t understand their impact e.g. Are we sure that changing a set point still means we are inside the operating limits of the equipment? That’s why we do Management of Change (MoC).

• We should have a maintenance program for every piece of equipment and should never go overdue on it.

• We should understand what the limits of our equipment are and make sure we always operate within them.

• We should always follow procedures – they are there to make sure we operate equipment as it is designed (i.e. safely)

• We will report any event that indicates equipment may have been outside its operating limits - e.g. relief valve lifts, bursting disc failures, process alarms – they are telling us we have had a process safety near miss

HOW ALERT ARE YOU?

HOW ALERT ARE YOU?

IS THE PROCESS SAFETY BEAR REAL FOR YOU?


IT SHOULD BE!!!

Be in NO DOUBT – The process safety BEAR IS REAL FOR US …it’s not just Texas City

• Bad design – ever wish we’d got it right first time?

− Every fiber glass line we have – many with no marker tape

− Freezes in wet gas systems we have to unblock (risk of ice plugs, trapped gas releases)

− Floats that we need for alarms and trips that freeze?

− Relief valves and rupture disks activating

• Build it like it was designed – little things matter

− 200 bbl produced water spill

− ‘Ferulok’ carbon steel nut and ferrule were used on 3/8” stainless steel tubing instead of ‘A-LOK’ fittings

− The Ferulok tube fitting that was connected to the 3/8” stainless steel tubing was an industrial fitting and should not have been used in this application. The tubing cut was oblong and the ferrule and nut were not set far enough from the end of the tubing.

− Pipe work installation made it prone to vibration

− Level alarm in berm failed to activate due to installation making it prone to freezing

− CONSEQUENCES?


• Failure to understand risk of change - poor MOC

− March 2009 relief valve failure due to vibration

− Vibration caused by installing a 1” valve on a section of line that changed its vibration characteristics

− Resulted in a significant gas release near a compressor. What if an ignition source had been present?

• Poor maintenance

− Jan 2009 compressor fan destroyed due to failure to grease bearings

− Sent 6 ft fan blades spinning at high speeds across location. Had someone been in the line of fire, could have been fatal.


• Keep energy away from people

− Plunger ejection – July 2009

− Swabbing was conducted on the well with a plunger in the hole.

− The engineer, WSL and rig crew did not know a plunger was in the well.

− The well went from being on a vacuum to a positive pressure

− Plunger ejected out the top of the tubing, going an estimated additional 50’ and fell to the rig floor

− The tong operator was struck on the side of his hard hat and on his upper left arm.

− And what about the gas release??

10 lbs

Be in NO DOUBT – The process safety BEAR IS VERY REAL FOR US …it’s not just Texas City

• Following procedures

− Below grade tank fire in March 2008

− Operator failed to follow proper procedure for lighting fired vessel and left cover plug off pilot port

− Hanging dump valve caused gas blow through to below grade tank

− Gas venting found way back to ignition port and caused flash fire

− Scorched separator and tank severely damaged

− Had individual been present could have caused very serious injury

• Be careful when you mess with it – Control of Work/Energy Isolation

− April 2008 – Condensate tank explosion

− Conducting welding activity on a hydrocarbon system

− Combined with a failure to properly isolate a hydrocarbon energy source - potential for event with multiple fatalities


• Learn from mistakes

− Multiple fires on compressor units in 2007 and 2008 with potential to injure personnel seriously

− Resulted in 6 month time out – did root cause investigation….fixed the design, fixed the field units.

− Since then, no fires.

Lessons Learned: Over Pressurized 4” Frac IronDate of Incident- Dec-01-2009

What Happened? CO2 pumps were priming up prior to starting a frac job.

When the final CO2 vent valve was closed for the start of the C02 portion of frac, it dead headed against a closed 4”, 10k valve (mistakenly thought to be open).

Pressure reached 12,792 psi in less than one second. The pumps pressure trips were activated and the in-line pressure relief valve opened, bleeding off pressure.

What went wrong?

• Valve came to location with only one of two bolts in place on the positioning indicator.

• Employee got distracted after he removed the indicator plate and marked the stem in the wrong position.

• Employee did not cycle the valve prior to the frac to insure the valve was in the proper position.

Actions:• Valves will be inspected in

the shop and on location to verify that indicators are in the correct position and the plates are secured properly.

• Valve numbering system has been put in place to ensure the valve operator and frac van communicate correct valve sequence for well to be frac’d and also ensure all valves are in the right position.

What went right:

• Exclusion zone was adhered to and no personnel was in the area of the high pressure piping.

• Frac pump pressure trips activated properly.

• Treating line pressure relief valve opened as planned.

WHERE IS THE PROCESS SAFETY BEAR FOR YOU IN YOUR OPERATIONS?

THIS IS THE INTERACTIVE PART!

Remember – It’s the prevention and control of incidents that have the potential to release

hazardous materials or energy


− What learning do you get from all these incidents?

− Hopefully that the bear is real

− Little things can really matter

− Watch for “weak signals” and report them – they are the process telling you something isn’t right

− Weak signals are things like alarms, trips, leaks, vibration, unusual noise, freezing, installation looks wrong/unusual

− It’s your site, it’s your equipment – you deserve it to be right


IT SHOULD BE!!!

Documents

4CSN January 7, 2010 IS THE PROCESS SAFETY BEAR REAL FOR YOU?