Deepwater risk management needs clear goals
Gene Kliewer,
Technology Editor -- Subsea & Seismic
HOUSTON -- Strategies, management, and reliability were the central topics at a presentation organized by INTEC Engineering and featuring Devon Energy Corp., Chevron, and BP today at the Offshore Technology Conference.
Developing strategies to minimize risk was the topic for James Pappas, global technology coordinator, Devon. The steps, he said, are to identify, define, evaluate, and execute while balancing risks and rewards.
Devon has a process based on experience which starts with a Strategic Risk Management Plan that does not include the technical risks. The process results in identifying an owner for each risk who is responsible to manage that risk.
Risk is not new to the oil and gas business, said Randy Kubota, general manager, Subsea, Chevron. "We've always dealt with risk since Spindletop." he said.
Deepwater projects have some specific technical challenges but like all projects, the biggest challenge is to make good decisions, he said.
The largest hurdle for subsea reliability is the shortage of skilled people, said BP's David Brookes, chief of engineering, Subsea and Floating Systems. One way to address that is to pursue standards and standardization where possible.
He also talked about the industry establishing new standards such as API 17N using technologies from other industries.
05/06/2008
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