American Petroleum Institute

Recommended Practice for Subsea Production System Reliability and Technical Risk Management - Fisrt Edition
 N RP 17N

Annotation

The application of subsea technology in the offshore oil and gas industry demands large capital investments and significant operational expenditures. The value of using subsea technology depends on its production availability (see 3.17) which is a reflection of its reliability and maintainability (RM).

This API recommended practice (RP) aims to provide operators, contractors and suppliers with guidance in the application of reliability techniques to subsea projects within their scope of work and supply only. It is applicable to:

— standard and non-standard equipment,

— all phases of projects from feasibility studies to operation.

This RP does not prescribe the use of any specific equipment or limit the use of any existing installed equipment or indeed recommend any action, beyond good engineering practice, where current reliability is judged to be acceptable. It is also not intended to replace individual company processes, procedures, document nomenclature or numbering; it is a guide. However, this RP may be used to enhance existing processes, if deemed appropriate.

Users of this RP should gain a better understanding of how to manage an appropriate level of reliability throughout the life cycle of their subsea projects. Industry wide, users should be able to:

— recognize the trade off between up front reliability and engineering effort vs. operational maintenance effort,

— provide better assurance of future performance of subsea systems,