Case Study 5 – Safety Critical Elements and Performance Standards

ASSET
INTEGRITY Failure of Emergency Power System

Turbine Generator Turbine Generator Turbine Generator

When 3.6MW 3.6MW 3.6MW
February 2011
G G G
Impact
• Initial loss of containment caused trip of primary 3300V Main
Switchboard
power generation
• Subsequent change over to back up power was not
achieved because UPS power supply failed before
changeover could be completed Transformer Transformer

• Essential crew spent several hours with no power

during winter conditions offshore 415V Normal
Switchboard
• Fortunately no escalation of initial loss of hydrocarbon
event but restart was significantly delayed due to
G
total power system failure caused by failure of UPS
Emergency
(~36 hours) Diesel
415V Emergency Generator
Switchboard 800kW
Key messages
Ensure that critical performance requirements of safety
systems are fully understood
Ensure that test and maintenance regimes are designed
to exercise the full performance requirement
40
Generators start-up board
(typical for A, B & C)

What happened?
Closed drains leak initiated platform shutdown which led to
sustained total loss of power and telecomms ! Schematic of main and emergency power supplies

• Installation went into operator initiated emergency

shutdown due to loss of containment on the drains system
resulting in a condensate release
• Failure to start the main generator promptly caused by
inability to start machines on diesel fuel on first attempt;
seven attempts were required over 45-50 minutes
• Overall failure of power generation caused by failure of emergency
power generation before main power generation could be put
on the distribution board to allow it to power its own key utility
systems (e.g. diesel transfer pump)
• Earth fault and / or cabling insulation failure caused failure of
emergency power generator

MAJOR HAZARDS AWARENESS

 Case Study 5 – Safety Critical Elements and Performance Standards
ASSET
INTEGRITY Failure of Emergency Power System

Root Causes
The root causes that led to this incident were identified as:
• F ailure to address and rectify difficulty starting main power
generation on diesel which had been known about but not
resolved over many years
• D
 iesel transfer pumps and air compressors for the main
generators shutdown due to loss of power when the diesel
emergency generator tripped.
• L atent fault in electrical systems on emergency generator
had not been revealed by proof testing, but issues had been
identified as a result of previous failures.
• P
 roof testing regime did not exercise the full required
functional duration of 24h (unlike UPS battery testing
which does include full duration testing) ! Main Electrical Switchroom

• N
 o available contingency plans for failure of safety critical
systems such as emergency power generation

Lesson to be Learned (L2BL) For more information on Major Hazards Awareness:

The following lessons must be learned in order to help prevent • BG Group Major Hazards Awareness eLearning Course,
such an incident happening again: via the Learning Management System
• Ensure all safety critical equipment is properly identified
• Verify that the performance standards are properly defined to
! • Contact the Asset Integrity Group in BG Advance,
box.assetintegrity@bg-group.com
• BG Group Asset Integrity Standards, via the BG Portal
ensure the safety critical equipment functions as required
• BG Safety Engineering and Asset Integrity Community,
• Ensure test conditions are realistic / representative of via BG Connect
required performance
• Ensure mitigation plans exist to cover the failure of safety
critical equipment against required performance standards,
both during test (non hazardous) situations and real
(potentially hazardous) circumstances.

MAJOR HAZARDS AWARENESS