Abstract
Cost and risk optimization is a central issue in the offshore Oil and Gas sector, and risk-based approaches has been more and more employed to assist the segment in the concretization of that goal. In this sense, the use of Risk Based Inspection by the oil industry has increased. The inspection procedure aims mitigating the uncertainty related to the asset degradation state, enabling a better quantification of the actual damage, and, consequently, increasing the accuracy of remaining life projections. However, the costs involved in offshore subsea inspections are considerable. Therefore, the optimization of inspection plans plays a crucial role in the definition of an asset management program economically balanced. To perform an efficient optimization, it is important not only obtain an effective optimization algorithm but also achieve a high quality of the information used as input. In other words, an adequate definition of the risk indexes used is necessary, as well as the entire process used to quantify them. In this context, this paper presents a framework for obtaining the optimized inspection plans, starting from the assessment of the risk associated with the failure modes, moving on through the process of defining risk indices and, finally, presenting the optimization process itself. In this way, the framework proposed presents all the phases necessary to obtain optimized inspection plans, including the stage of preparation for the optimization process. Finally, the application of the proposed framework is illustrated by the elaboration of the inspection plans for a subsea manifold.
