Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Stefan Winter
ABSTRACT
Newcomers to any production facility need to quickly learn where problems occur,
frequency of repair trips, which equipment requires repairs, the urgency of repairs
and what repair expenses are justifiable. Reviewing trip data identifies problems and
helps employees allocate resources for solutions. A trip analysis, using data from
Keith Worrel
approximately 250 trip reports from 1996 to 2001, was undertaken to make this
job easier. These reports yielded a significant amount of useful data. Detailed information about the cost of each trip and the cost of each repair is not easily or
quickly accessible even when trips are correctly recorded in the distributed control
system (DCS), therefore indices for the cost of each outage and its repair will be
applied at Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP). The relationship between outage costs
and cost of repairs will reflect the urgency or priority of the problem. The hypothetical example below easily shows the procedure.
matrix (fig. 1) offers an overview of the trips. The concerned equipment and the reason are marked with an x.
L I S T O F O U TA G E S O U TA G E M AT R I X
All available reports about outages and equipment failures
were collected. These outages were listed with date, equipment with frequent failures and reasons for failure. In this
list it became obvious that some equipment and certain reasons were frequently repeated. Therefore, fig. 1 includes the
section equipment with frequent failures. For example:
On the line with #28, the boiler is the equipment problem and the fuse is the reason. A hypothetical outage
30
16-Dec-00
3:16
29
12-Dec-00
3:16
28
3-Dec-00
5:45
27
29-Nov-00
5:45
26
21-Nov-00
16:54
25
21-Nov-00
9:05
24
10-Nov-00
2:10
23
12-Sep-00
8:30
22
23-Aug-00
6:25
21
7-Aug-00
7:58
20
5-Aug-00
13:10
19
29-Jul-00
23:30
18
23-Jul-00
14:50
17
30-May-00
11:37
16
15-May-00
8:36
15
14-May-00
3:46
14
9-May-00
14:30
13
3-May-00
12:45
12
21-Apr-00
13:53
11
20-Apr-00
14:32
10
16-Apr-00
2:52
15-Apr-00
8:45
12-Apr-00
17:40
28-Mar-00
16:34
22-Mar-00
3:30
19-Mar-00
12:05
15-Mar-00
20:08
12-Mar-00
9:17
5-Mar-00
12:45
6-Feb-00
2:52
Else
Bearings
Vibration
Scanner Failure
Valve/Solenoid
InstrumentationGeneral
Oil
Instrument Air
Electrical-General
Loose Wiring
Relay
Fuse
Loss of Power
Reason
Else
Burner in SRU
Main Substation
Substation 1
Compressor 2
Compressor 1
Pump 3
Pump 2
TIME
Pump 1
DATE
Boiler 1
O U TA G E A N D R E PA I R I N D E X
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Outage Index
I N D E X R AT I O M AT R I X
The index ratio matrix covers all possible index ratios.
Index Matrix
Outage
Index
0.5
0.33
0.67
1.5
1.00
1.33
Repair Index
Fig. 2. Index ratio matrix
Equipment with
Frequent Failures
16-Dec-00
3:16
0.3
29
12-Dec-00
3:16
1.5
1.5
5:45
3.0
3.0
2.0
Step 9
26
21-Nov-00
16:54
0.7
0.7
21-Nov-00
9:05
0.7
2:10
1.0
23
12-Sep-00
Step
7
8:30
1.5
22
23-Aug-00
6:25
1.5
21
7-Aug-00
7:58
20
5-Aug-00
13:10
3.0
19
29-Jul-00
23:30
3.0
18
23-Jul-00
14:50
1.0
17
30-May-00
11:37
1.0
16
15-May-00
8:36
1.5
15
14-May-00
3:46
0.7
14
9-May-00
14:30
0.7
13
3-May-00
12:45
0.7
12
21-Apr-00
13:53
0.5
11
20-Apr-00
14:32
1.5
10
16-Apr-00
2:52
1.5
15-Apr-00
8:45
0.5
12-Apr-00
17:40
3.0
28-Mar-00
16:34
1.0
22-Mar-00
3:30
0.5
19-Mar-00
12:05
1.5
15-Mar-00
20:08
1.0
12-Mar-00
9:17
1.0
5-Mar-00
12:45
1.5
6-Feb-00
2:52
1.0
Else
Bearings
Oil
Instrument Air
1
Step 8
Step
11
2.0
2.0
0.7
0.7
0.7
1.0
1.0
1.5
1.5
Step 5
Step
1
1.04
3.0
5:45
10-Nov-00
1.0
0.3
29-Nov-00
24
0.3
27
25
Electrical-General
Loose Wirering
Relay
Fuse
Loss of Power
Else
Burner in SRU
Main Substation
Substation 1
Compressor 2
Compressor 1
Pump 3
Pump 2
2.0 0.8 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 1.5 2.0 2.0 0.5 1.5 2.7 3.0
30
Step
10
28
3-Dec-00
Pump 1
Boiler 1
Step 3
Index Ratio
Step 2
Repair Index
Outage Index
Step 1
Vibration
Reason
Scanner Failure
TIME Costs
Valve/Solenoid
DATE
Instrumentation - General
1.5
1.5
1.0
Step 6
3.0
1.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.5
1.5
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.7
0.5
0.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
0.5
0.5
3.0
3.0
1.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.5
1.0
1.5
1.0
O P E R AT I N G P L A N
The operating plan documents the future investments and
intentions of a production facility. Applying the hypothetical example in fig. 3: fuses, relays, boiler 1, main
substation, burner in SRU should be part of the operation
plan for the following years. Besides the operating plans,
funding for the electrical capital projects and single-point
failure study have to be considered at UGP.
S U M M A RY
Learning where problems occur, frequency of repair trips,
which equipment requires repairs, the urgency of the
repairs and what repair expenses are justifiable are important details in running a production facility. When
reviewing trip data using indices, employees can quickly
identify problems and allocate resources for solutions. In
trip analyses, using only 30 hypothetical repair trips,
detailed information about the cost of each trip and the
cost of each repair is not available, therefore indices for the
cost of each outage and its repair are used. Index ratios, the
relationship between outage costs and repair costs are
found by dividing the outage index by the repair index calculated in a spreadsheet format. The averages of the index
ratios, the calculated frequency of the equipment failures
and the trip reason document this urgency and priority. The
method of using indices is applied at UGP resulting in
trends that are readily visible, thus justifying use of trip
analyses in parts of future budgets and operating plans.
L I T E R AT U R E
The following literature is part of the background of this trip
analysis: Risk-Based Management, A Reliability-Centered
Approach (Richard B. Jones, Gulf Publishing Company,
ISBN 0-88415-785-7). It is available in Saudi Aramco
libraries and includes literature references. An Engineering
Standard regarding trip analysis can be developed.
REFERENCES
A version of this article appeared in the May 2002 issue of
Hydrocarbon Procesing.