Hazard evaluation and safety assessment for subsea HIPPS

Abstract

AbstractThe safety practice of depressurization of pipelines by flare system in the hydrocarbon industry is not sufficient for pipelines in the subsea production process. There are many challenges in the subsea production process due to multiphase fluid flow. Failure of a process to arrive at its safe state could result in fatality, significant property damage, and can lead to a disastrous environment. The safe state of a process is identified through the consequence of hazard and risk assessments at critical modes of operations. A well‐designed safety instrumented function (SIF) can prevent escalation of minor malfunction into an accident. The prime objective of this work is to obtain the required safety integrity level (SIL) for subsea High Integrity Pressure Protection System (HIPPS). Based on hazard assessment (HAZOP) and risk assessment (LOPA), SIL for SIF is recommended, and finally through reliability calculations, the SIL for subsea HIPPS is determined.