Structural integrity management system (SIMS) implementation within PETRONAS’ operations

Abstract

Since 2008, PETRONAS Carigali Snd Bhd (PCSB) has embarked on developing a structural integrity management system (SIMS) within its Malaysian operations, which is compliant with the recently balloted American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practice for the Structural Integrity Management of Fixed Offshore Structures (API RP 2SIM) and International Standards Organization (ISO) 19902:2007. Increasing demand to extend the life of fixed steel offshore structures due to further oil and gas discoveries has resulted in the platform being subjected to higher loading due to modifications, upgrading and the demands of additional loading due to new drilling campaigns for which the platform may not have originally been designed. In addition, PCSB platforms are also be faced with other challenges and events such as major damage anomalies identified from the inspections performed, an increase in environmental metocean loading, the presence of shallow gas and seismic/earthquake loading for which the structure may have not originally been designed. As such, PCSB must be able to manage these additional integrity triggers and justify the ongoing integrity and fitness for purpose (FFP) of its platforms, beyond the design life of the structure.