The BP Subsea

Reliability Strategy
A guide for BP leaders

“IT MUST WORK”

December 2006
Contents

Foreword 3

Introduction 4

Evolution of the Strategy 5

Our Goal 6

How we achieve it 6

What is the prize? 7

What the Strategy provides 7

How we measure ourselves 8

Introducing the Reliability Tasks 9

Reliability Strategy Processes 10

1 Definition of R&M Goals and Requirements 11

2 Organising and Planning for R&M 12

3 Design and Manufacture for R&M 13

4 R&M Assurance 14

5 Verification and Validation 15

6 Project Risk Management 16

7 R&M Qualification 17

8 Performance Tracking and Data Management 18

9 Supply Chain Management 19

10 Management Of Change 20

11 Risk & R&M Analysis and Modelling 21

12 Organisational Learning 22

Glossary 23

Contact List 24

December 2006 2
Foreword

A large portion of BP's future growth is invested in deepwater and particularly subsea equipment
and operations. It is absolutely critical, if we are to achieve our aspiration, that our subsea
equipment operates with the highest possible reliability. This booklet is part of an update of
BP’s Subsea Reliability process first issued in 2003. It captures the learnings from the past 3
years of applications. It is imperative that we embed these processes in all our subsea projects
and operations and continue to learn, improve and update our knowledge of how to improve
reliability of critical components.

GVP and Technology Director

December 2006 3
Introduction

As we push new developments into deeper waters and more remote areas, Subsea is forming
an increasing proportion of our total production, particularly in the growth areas, and by 2010 it
will be nearly 35% of the total.

BP’s and the industry’s reliability record for Subsea Production has remained mixed and in
some cases below expectations, resulting in low initial operating efficiencies and high costs of
remedial works. As we expand our deep water portfolio, including even more remote locations,
the cost of failure becomes unacceptably high.

To meet our functional strategy of increasing First Year Operability, lower Capex and avoidance
of project “wrecks” we continue to need a step change in the Reliability of Subsea Systems. This
strategy guide brings together the vision and summarises the work completed over the last 7
years in working towards achieving this.

The BP Subsea Reliability Strategy is a long term, multi level programme based on good
practice from other industries where high reliability is now taken for granted. It has been
developed in conjunction with Cranfield University and Boreas Consultants to suit our industry
using feedback from benchmark projects in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico initially and
updated from lessons in West Africa and the Caspian Sea. We need to ensure that this strategy
continues to be is implemented across all of our projects and operations.

A step change improvement in Subsea Reliability cannot be achieved overnight. While there are
short term wins which we target, the overall programme remains long term and requires
changes and improvements in management processes, practices and behaviours. This
guidance booklet is designed to promote out Reliability Strategy by involving 12 key processes.
It is aimed at managers, leaders and the teams engineering new and operating existing subsea
systems. We expect this strategy to be implemented by adopting all of the 12 key processes in
this document.

While many of the processes are already common practice within BP, some are not and will
involve additional training and procedures. To do this successfully, the key success factors are
communication, education and persuasion, not only within BP, but at all levels with equipment
suppliers, engineering contractors/installers, industry at large, government organisations and
most importantly with our partners.

We are unlikely to achieve our ambitions alone – we have to take industry along with us to
achieve this cultural change.

We will seek to continuously improve our reliability processes based on our experience in
implementing the strategy. Your feedback and willingness to implement the strategy is
important.

Please share this strategy with your teams, suppliers and contractors and play an active role in
the Subsea Performance Network that will continue to develop and promote the strategy at all
levels.

David A. Brookes

Segment Engineering Technical Authority – Subsea EPTF

December 2006 4
Evolution of the Strategy

When the BP Subsea Reliability Strategy was first formally introduced in 2003, it was initially
based on thirteen key processes. These have now been further refined to become twelve
closely interlinked processes. These twelve processes, introduced in the next section, are key
practices that contractors and suppliers supporting BP should have in place as part of their
everyday business management. Without these processes in place, such companies will be
unable to demonstrate their ability to achieve the required level of reliability expected of their
products and services, by BP.

To enable these processes to be implemented, practical procedures have been developed

resulting in 10 specific Reliability Tasks (R1 to R10). These tasks were initially described in the
original version of The Reliability Handbook, published in February 2005, and have been refined
and updated in a new handbook, which has been re-issued as the Reliability Implementation
Manual (2006). The Reliability Implementation Manual is to be used to support projects in their
goal of achieving the required highest levels of reliability.

Also In 2006, implementation of these processes through the application of the tasks became an
expected requirement for BP subsea projects through the issue of GP 78-03 and GP 78-04. As
a result of these developments, this Strategy Guide has now been updated to increase reader’s
awareness of the GPs and to show the linkage between the 10 Reliability Tasks and the twelve
key processes. Furthermore, alignment of the definitions of the key processes with those
described in API RP 17N “Recommended Practice Subsea Production System Reliability &
Technical Risk Management”, which has been drafted since the original Strategy Guide was first
published, has been provided. The hierarchy of these BP documents and other relevant GPs is
shown in Figure 1, below.

The BP Subsea Reliability Strategy

A Guide for BP Leaders GP 78-06
Qualification of
Technology for
Subsea Projects

GP 78-03
Achieving GP 78-26
Reliability in Subsea Reliability
Subsea Projects & Maintenance
Data Collection

GP 78-04 GP 78-05
Reliability Testing of Subsea
Techniques for Equipment: FAT,
Reliability Subsea Projects EFAT and SIT
Implementation
Manual
GP 78-30
Reliability Integrated Subsea
Implementation System Testing/
Manual Commissioning/
Appendices Start-up

Figure 1. Hierarchy of BP reliability documents

December 2006 5
Our Goal

BP intends to be distinctive in its pursuit of enhancing the reliability of subsea technology, to

ensure that the technology chosen is the best and provides the most cost effective field
development solution.

How we achieve it
The implementation of a reliability strategy in BP projects is based on the introduction of
reliability and maintainability (R&M) into subsea system requirements. BP shall demand greater
assurance from engineering contractors and equipment suppliers that a known level of reliability
and/or maintainability will be achieved. This will influence the design process and the way
reliability and maintainability is managed during design and manufacture in the subsea industry.
It will also influence the way systems are selected with increased emphasis placed on a
company’s reliability management capability.

Availability is a performance parameter linked directly to the Business Unit’s and BP’s business
goals and the volume and cost of hydrocarbons produced. Two key variables that affect
“Availability” are the time to failure (related to reliability) and time to restore a failed system
(related to maintainability). Therefore project teams can consider a combination of two
strategies to achieve their target availability:

• Reliability – focus on extending life of equipment before failure

• Maintainability – focus on minimising the time to restore failed equipment to an

operable state.

Availability

Reliability Maintainability

The strategy targets three groups of processes (“OIL”: Objectives, Implementation, Learning)
that it identifies as being essential components to a well defined reliability engineering and risk
management capability. These are defined below.

In all, these three groups account for twelve key processes.

OBJECTIVES Definition of R&M Goals and Requirements

Organising and Planning for R&M
Design and Manufacture for R&M
R&M Assurance

IMPLEMENTATION Verification and Validation

Project Risk Management
R&M Qualification
Performance Tracking and Data Management
Supply Chain Management
Management of Change
Risk & R&M Analysis and Modelling

LEARNING Organisational Learning

Figure 2. The Twelve Key Reliability Processes.

December 2006 6
Our Goal

The first group of processes, ‘Objectives’, includes the four fundamental processes, which are
at the core of the strategy. These are used to develop a project specific R&M strategy. From
this, system R&M goals and requirements are defined and specific reliability tasks and activities
are identified to meet these goals and requirements. These then form part of an overall reliability
plan to deliver against strategy expectations. The system or product is then designed and
manufactured to meet the R&M goals and requirements, with assurance provided and
documented in the Reliability Assurance Document (RAD).

The project specific reliability plan is executed in the second, ‘Implementation’ group of
processes. These processes specifically relate to the analysis of risk and reliability and to the
management of risks during the project life cycle, with assurance that these risks are being
either eliminated or reduced.

The third and final process group, ‘Learning’, is used to continually improve the success of the
strategy on current and future projects. The key process Organisational Learning addresses the
need for the project and the Subsea Performance Network to create and sustain investment in
learning and education in order to effect an improvement in reliability. To this effect, BP has
made a long term commitment to support reliability Research and Development and to invest in
reliability education and training of BP staff.

Each of the twelve key processes, the subject of this reliability strategy guide, can be linked to
stages within the BP Major Projects Common Process.

The ‘Objectives’ group of processes is shown below in Figure 3, matched against the project
stages.

Figure 3. Project Stages

What is the Prize?

Effective management processes that fulfil the intent of the reliability expectations will result in
enhanced project performance, protection of BP Group reputation, improvement of our liability
profile, and upholding our distinctive leadership position in our industry.

What the Strategy provides

The strategy provides a broad-based set of expectations integrated into each of the 12
processes. This framework allows BP leaders to focus on reliability needs, forecast and allocate
resources, set direction for reliability activities, and consistently deliver improved reliability
performance throughout the project life cycle.

Figure 4 shows the generic life cycle of a subsea system and how reliability activities form a
learning loop that can continuously improve reliability by increasing the understanding of
failure.

December 2006 7
Our Goal

R&D

Inspection/
Maintenance Reliability & Design
Education Qualification
&Training Testing
Reliability
Performance Analysis &
Analysis Modelling

Supplier’s
Operation understanding Manufacture
of failure

Data Verification &

Collection Validation
Lessons Risk
Capture Management
Factory
Installation Testing (FAT)
Integration
Testing
(SIT)
Figure 4. Continuous Improvement

Subsea managers, the reliability lead and package leads shall communicate reliability goals and
requirements to their teams and shall be accountable for delivery of a system which meets
reliability expectations. Each project shall have documented systems in place to meet the
expectations, including justification, where necessary why certain expectations are not
applicable to that project.

How we measure ourselves

We shall measure ourselves, and our suppliers and contractors in all of the twelve key
processes. This we shall do periodically during audits to measure continual improvement in our
reliability processes.
Where we would like to be

Level 5 CONTINUOUS
Optimised Reliability IMPROVEMENT

Level 4
Managed Reliability PREDICTABLE
RELIABILITY

Level 3
Defined Reliability CONSISTENT
RELIABILITY
Level 2
Repeatable Reliability
Where the industry
Level 1 is now
Initial Reliability

Figure 5. How we measure ourselves

Moving from where industry is now to our target level, where we would like to be, requires action
on all our 12 processes, which are explained in this strategy guide.
December 2006 8
Introducing the Reliability Tasks

Ten specific Reliability Tasks have been developed to enable subsea projects to implement the
key processes of this Reliability Strategy and achieve the following:

• Define reliability and maintainability goals and requirements

• Plan Reliability Tasks
• Design the system to meet the reliability and maintainability goals and requirements
• Provide assurance that the requirements have been met and assurance of the extent
to which the goals have been achieved
• Capture and feed back reliability data and lessons learned

The Reliability Tasks are as follows:

R1 Technical Risk Categorisation

R2 Defining R&M Goals and Requirements
R3 Reliability Planning
R4 Reliability Assurance
R5 Reliability Value Analysis
R6 Reliability Analysis and Modelling
R7 Design and Manufacture for Reliability
R8 Contractor and Supplier Selection and Contracting
R9 Reliability Data Collection and Lessons Capture
R10 Reliability Qualification Activities

Importantly, Reliability Tasks R1, technical risk categorisation, is the critical element in
building the foundation of the reliability strategy within a project.

Technical risk categorisation is a task carried out at the start of each project stage to assess the
technical risk and uncertainty inherent in a subsea project, a system option, a system package,
a package component or a procedure. It relies on a clear understanding of the project risks. The
output from the technical risk categorisation is used to identify the required level of effort in
reliability management in the project to manage the technical risks. It feeds directly into the
reliability planning process and forms the basis for the submission to the Decision Support
Package.

December 2006 9
Reliability Strategy Processes

Each of the 12 reliability processes, listed below, are described in the following sections of this
strategy guide. To assist the reader, the main reliability task (R1 to R10) associated with a
process is identified. Guidance Practices GP 78-03 and GP 78-04 shall be adopted and followed
by subsea projects to implement the reliability strategy processes following the specific reliability
tasks given in the guidance practices.

1 Definition of R&M Goals and Requirements

2 Organising and Planning for R&M

3 Design and Manufacture for R&M

4 R&M Assurance

5 Verification and Validation

6 Project Risk Management

7 R&M Qualification

8 Performance Tracking and Data Management

9 Supply Chain Management

10 Management Of Change

11 Risk & R&M Analysis and Modelling

12 Organisational Learning

December 2006 10
1 Definition of R&M Goals and Requirements

BP shall work with its key subsea equipment suppliers and contractors to define R&M goals and
requirements for its subsea projects. The first and most important stage involves a formal setting
of system R&M goals and requirements. This is initiated during Appraise.

The purpose of the R&M goals and requirements is to minimise BP’s health, safety,
environmental and business risks. Attention should be placed on goals and requirements which
ensure high levels of reliable production in the early life of a field. R&M goals and requirements
are usually descriptive. However, a subsea system numeric availability requirement contributes
to achieving the overall minimum field availability.

During Project Select and Define stages, the project team shall review and update the R&M
goals and requirements and, with the contractors and suppliers, will be expected to allocate
R&M goals and requirements for selected architecture designs down to system and component
level. It is expected that this would include defining and imposing requirements down the supply
chain.

Expectations
1.1 R&M goals and requirements shall be initiated in Appraise, defined for each option very
early in the design cycle in Select and then updated and further developed during Define.
R&M goals and requirements should be set at system level to meet corporate safety and
business goals and allocated to major packages during Define.

1.2 Suppliers and contractors shall translate system level R&M goals and requirements to
subsystems and components using a reliability allocation process and develop a plan to
implement the strategy and demonstrate achievement.

1.3 R&M goals and requirements shall be included in key design documents.

• Hardware R&M goals shall include a numeric availability target for the subsea system as a
contribution to the overall project field availability target.
• A limited number of quantitative metrics exist which may be adopted as appropriate to
support the specification of R&M goals and requirements and include:
o Overall production availability
o Probability of achieving a maintenance free operating period (MFOP) or a
minimum failure free operating period (MFFOP).
o System, subsystem and package reliability, expressed as a probability (e.g.
MTBF, Probability of failure, failure rate, reliability index, etc.)
• Where quantitative reliability data is not available then non-numeric R&M goals shall be
defined for example “no early life failures”, “maximise system availability”, etc.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 1 Definition of R&M Goals and Requirements

Specific Associated Task: R2 Defining R&M Goals and Requirements

December 2006 11
2 Organising and Planning for R&M

This is a key task which is essential for all projects regardless of scale and complexity. It
comprises two elements: Firstly, the need to create a management structure to lead and
address the reliability issues arising during a project. Secondly, the need to identify and
implement the reliability tasks to enable the project to demonstrate achievement of R&M goals
and requirements, within the project time frame. This process takes place over the duration of a
project and is updated regularly.

Expectations
2.1 Reliability plans shall be created for all subsea projects to indicate the tasks required to
meet the R&M goals and requirements and when they should be performed.

2.2 Technical risk categorisation shall be used to develop the plan.

2.3 The Reliability Plan shall be a living document, initiated in Appraise and updated at each
project stage and shall include the time, tools and resources required to achieve the R&M
goals and requirements.

2.4 The Reliability Plan shall identify the leadership and the reliability team to be employed at
each project stage. This shall be initiated at Appraise and updated at each project stage
as the project progresses.

2.5 The reliability team shall include: a reliability lead reporting to the project manager,
package managers accountable for meeting equipment R&M goals and requirements and
reliability specialists to advise and provide coaching on tools and techniques.

2.6 It is expected that many of the reliability tasks will be performed by contractors and
suppliers. BP staff should focus on verification and validation of the reliability tasks.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 2 Organising and Planning for R&M

Specific Associated Task: R3 Reliability Planning

December 2006 12
3 Design and Manufacture for R&M

Designing and manufacturing a system, which meets specified function and performance
requirements, does not necessarily mean that reliability is achieved unless reliability is
specifically addressed in the functional and performance requirements. Design and
manufacture for reliability is, therefore, a key value generating process of a project.

Suppliers and contractors shall identify reliability improvement opportunities at the Define and
Execute stages by, for example, eliminating failure modes, reducing complexity, developing
fault tolerant configurations and designing damage tolerant components. Should it not be
possible to eliminate a failure mode, the risk shall be reduced by reducing the likelihood of
occurrence, reducing the magnitude of the failure consequence, or both.

Expectations
3.1 Suppliers shall review experience to enable judgments to be made about the value of
selecting particular design alternatives at system as well as package and component
level.

3.2 Suppliers shall develop strategies to increase system reliability by application of active
and passive redundancy, removal of common cause failures and by improved
interface reliability.

3.3 Suppliers shall develop research and development strategies to increase product
reliability, for example by reducing the uncertainty associated with a product’s strength
by increasing its strength and tolerance to degradation processes (fatigue, erosion,
corrosion and wear).

3.4 Suppliers shall take design action to improve reliability when analyses indicate
unacceptable risks and tests reveal failures. This can be done for example by
developing components and mechanisms that are protected from the environment,
developing systems and technologies to enable in-service inspection and monitoring,
and investigating new technologies which remove high consequence failure modes.

3.5 Suppliers shall develop stress screening and burn-in test methods to remove or
reduce defects introduced during manufacture and assembly.

3.6 Suppliers shall implement modifications or controls to manufacturing procedures as

identified through the reliability analysis and modelling and support these with good
QM systems.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 3 Design and Manufacture for R&M

Specific Associated Task: R7 Design and Manufacture for Reliability

December 2006 13
4 R&M Assurance

R&M Assurance is the process of collating and assessing reliability information generated during
a field development project and communicating this information to decision makers.

Contractors and suppliers will be expected to provide documentary evidence during the Define
and Execute stages to assure BP that the required reliability will be achieved. This formal
reliability assurance process will require the preparation of a formal Reliability Assurance
Document (RAD).

The RAD is a living document which develops over the life cycle of the project. It summarises
the R&M goals and requirements and references the evidence needed to support the eventual
reliability assertions made at the end of the project to meet the specified BP R & M goals and
requirements. The RAD will be validated through the Operate stage.

Expectations
4.1 The RAD shall provide reasoned, auditable arguments to support the contention that
the system satisfies the R&M goals and requirements.

4.2 The RAD shall include a full audit trail for the project of how the R&M goals and
requirements were identified, reliability analysis planned and requirements
implemented. Actions arising shall be tracked to completion to demonstrate fulfilment.

4.3 Contractors and suppliers shall prepare the R&M evidence, build the Reliability
Assurance Document and submit it on completion of the project.

4.4 BP engineers and reliability specialists shall evaluate the RAD throughout the life
cycle of the design and beyond into operations. The RAD shall support the DSP and
the QM documentation for the project and shall be available at all project stage gates.

4.5 The RAD shall refer to information covering:

• System Description
• BP’s R&M Goals and Requirements
• Analysis and Strategy for R&M Achievement
• Reliability Plan
• R&M Evidence
• R&M Claims and Assertions
• Limitations on Use
• Conclusions and Recommendations
• References
• An appendix containing a central reliability action register with proof of close out.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 4 R&M Assurance

Specific Associated Task: R4 Reliability Assurance

December 2006 14
5 Verification and Validation

BP shall assess the capabilities and competencies of the project team, including contractors and
suppliers who perform work on our behalf. BP shall work together with them to ensure that the
R&M goals and requirements are met.

Contractors and suppliers shall develop internal processes for the verification and validation of
their reliability performance through the project Define and Execute stages.

Expectations
5.1 Verification and validation of Reliability Tasks shall ensure that the tasks are being
carried out correctly and effectively and that reliability decisions are being based on
correct models, data and assumptions.

5.2 BP or a BP appointed third party shall periodically audit contractors and suppliers to
verify the following:
• All design assumptions, reliability models and data, used for reliability
assessment (analysis and testing), are valid.
• All required processes and activities have been completed and where necessary
followed up.

5.3 Quality management resources shall be involved in auditing that verification and
validation processes have been appropriately undertaken and data recorded.
Together they shall agree the completion and verification of Reliability Plans and
Reliability Assurance Documents.

5.4 Verification and validation activities shall be recorded in the Reliability Assurance
Document (RAD) as part of the evidence of reliability achievement.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 5 Verification and Validation

Specific Associated Task: Verification and validation is a process required for

all Reliability Tasks

December 2006 15
6 Project Risk Management

Project risk management is a continuous process required by MPcp throughout the Select,
Define and Execute stages which shall also provide assurance that product reliability will not be
compromised by competing cost and schedule goals.

It is necessary to identify risks associated with project tasks and schedules, including those that
impact reliability, and to define risk reduction and mitigation responses to prevent product
reliability being compromised. It is believed that the key to delivering product reliability to cost
and schedule is front loading the design effort.

Expectations
6.1 Risks to the achievement of reliability shall be specifically considered in the project by
BP with its contractors and suppliers.

6.2 Reliability tasks shall be identified and sufficiently resourced early in the project life
cycle.

6.3 Potential project risks shall be identified and assessments made of the potential
impact on project schedule, the need to increase resources and the need to increase
cost to maintain function, performance or reliability.

6.4 Risks associated with contractor and supplier activities in BP’s businesses shall be
identified, communicated and managed.

6.5 Potential risks to equipment reliability shall be identified and assessments made of the
associated increased uncertainty in the equipment reliability and hence its likelihood
of failure.

6.6 Some examples of areas where risks to reliability achievement should be addressed
include:

• Scope of Work definition

• Equipment specifications
• Application of new or unproven technology
• Application of existing technology in new or extended environments (e.g. deeper
water)
• Interaction with existing operations including installation activities and access to
the work site
• Contractor/supplier availability and resources

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 6 Project Risk Management

Specific Associated Task: The Project Risk Review (I.2) is an input activity to
the Reliability Tasks

December 2006 16
7 R&M Qualification

R&M Qualification is a documented set of activities intended to address both the increased risk
introduced by new technology (or existing technology in a new environment) and the need to
prove that it is fit for purpose and understand its potential impact on reliability.

R&M qualification therefore, has particular importance in reliability assurance.

Qualification status is measured in terms of a Technology Readiness Level ranging from 0,

paper concept, to 7, field proven.

Testing is necessary to explore and validate performance characteristics and failure processes
and is performed to a programme to meet MPcp and satisfying GP 78-06.

Qualification should demonstrate that specified performance and reliability requirements can be
met in the intended operating environment. Reliability testing involves testing equipment
beyond the intended boundaries to determine actual failure boundaries and uses a number of
highly specialised methods to improve knowledge of failure mechanisms.

Expectations
7.1 Qualification testing shall be used to provide evidence that all products used on
subsea systems will function within specific limits with an acceptable level of
confidence before they are installed.

7.2 BP engineers, contractors and suppliers shall develop an understanding of testing

requirements for key systems and components.

7.3 Demonstration of appropriate qualification to meet function and performance

requirements shall be applied to the entire project scope including components from
2nd, 3rd and lower tier suppliers i.e. sub-vendors/sub-contractors

7.4 Tests shall be performed throughout the design and development process. The output
from qualification testing, including any equipment limitations, shall be recorded in the
RAD as evidence of assurance and shall support the DSP, satisfying project QM.

7.5 R&M Qualification tests shall also be used:

• To validate failure modes identified through reliability analysis;

• To validate known failure mechanisms;
• To validate physics of failure models or develop improved understanding about
physical failure mechanisms especially where these are poorly understood;
• To validate reliability assessments arising from design changes;
• To generate reliability and product life data.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 7 R&M Qualification

Specific Associated Task: R10 Reliability Qualification Activities

December 2006 17
8 Performance Tracking and Data Management

Tracking the reliability performance of products and systems in operation and analysing the data
to generate useful reliability metrics is a fundamental input to reliability analysis and
management and the overall reliability strategy.

The process provides a key input to organisational learning, final validation of system and
component reliability against design predictions and demonstrates compliance to the regulatory
authorities. It is an important input to the long term measure of reliability improvement. The
process involves communication between BP and its suppliers to share equipment field
performance data throughout product life and supports decision making associated with IM, risk,
safety and operability.

Expectations
8.1 BP and its equipment suppliers and engineering contractors shall collaborate in the
development of field performance reporting systems. Data shall be collected on
systems, component performance and failures primarily from Define on into Operate,
including FAT, SIT, installation/commissioning and operation.

8.2 Data shall be analysed and used to demonstrate reliability and to inform reliability
improvement. Where appropriate, failures shall be subjected to root cause analysis
and recorded in a lessons learned database.

8.3 The project team shall record reliability failures and good practices during the project
up to handover to operations, which shall be transferred to the ETP shared learning
library, BP Knowledge Management systems and Maximo/OREDA as appropriate.

8.4 Reliability performance shall be tracked over time to assess hazard rates which, when
bench-marked from project to project, demonstrate long term reliability improvement.

8.5 BP and its suppliers and contractors shall collaborate with across industry reliability
data collection schemes such as OREDA, SIREN and Well Master to generate
generic reliability data bases.

8.6 Suppliers shall track manufacturing defects and failures and implement corrective
actions when failures occur, including improvement of design and/or manufacturing
processes.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 8 Performance Tracking and Data Management

Specific Associated Task: R9 Reliability Data Collection and Lessons Capture

December 2006 18
9 Supply Chain Management

Management of reliability through the supply chain is essential. It shall address the complete
supply chain from first tier suppliers down through the complete chain to ensure that final
product reliability is not compromised by the failure of components from lower tier suppliers.

As part of the long-term programme seeking reliability capability improvement of BP’s

contractors and suppliers, BP, its suppliers and contractors shall have systems in place to
cascade reliability requirements down through the supply chain and ensure that they are met.
To meet this, the requirements for reliability engineering shall be included in tender/procurement
documents and contractual agreements in addition to the requirements for QM. Supply chain
management should be carried out in the Define and Execute stages, but may be introduced
earlier.

Contracting strategies differ worldwide. Where a supplier can nominate a sub-supplier, BP shall
ensure that the selected sub-suppliers meet the reliability requirements prior to contract.

Expectations
9.1 All first tier suppliers shall have a system in place to allocate reliability requirements
down to all bought-in or subcontracted items.

9.2 All first tier suppliers and contractors shall be capable of managing the various
interfaces throughout the supply chain.

9.3 The reliability capability for each contractor and supplier shall be assessed prior to
award using a Reliability Capability Maturity Model (RCMM) with emphasis on
achieving the highest reliability capability possible. This assessment may be done as
part of the BP pre-selection of preferred suppliers and contractors.

9.4 Pre-qualification, selection and retention criteria shall be set for work performed by
contractors, suppliers and others. Contracts should, wherever possible, be developed
to provide incentives for reliability achievement by creating a positive outcome for all
involved.

9.5 Clear reliability tasks, deliverables and performance standards shall be agreed and
systems put in place to assure reliability, safety and technical compliance.

9.6 Joint venture and alliance partners should have reliability management systems in
place, preferably aligned with those of BP, meet legal compliance requirements and
satisfy corporate expectations and targets.

9.7 Suppliers and contractors shall take steps to minimise the variability in properties of
the same component type sourced from multiple suppliers.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 9 Supply Chain Management

Specific Associated Task: R8 Contractor & Supplier Selection and Contracting

December 2006 19
10 Management of Change

Many failures originate from changes that occur during the design and manufacture of a system,
in its physical operating environment or in its application. BP and its suppliers and contractors
shall put in place systems for actively monitoring, assessing and managing all changes that can
occur throughout the system life cycle.

The technical risk categorisation process shall be used to capture changes to design,
processes, interfaces, operating environment, and usage at the start of every project stage.
This then allows the impact of change to be addressed in the reliability tasks that are required at
each stage. In addition changes introduced by BP, its contractors or suppliers, within any
project stage shall be identified, assessed and their impacts communicated to all relevant
parties through the supply chain.

Expectations
10.1 All changes that affect reliability are formally assessed, managed, documented,
communicated and approved.
10.2 Projects should be aware of the implications of introducing change including:

• Identifying the risks to reliability of introducing change and defining their

mitigations;
• Specifying when the change can be validated;
• Defining how a change fits with the execution plan;
• Identifying the contingencies if the change doesn’t work.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 10 Management of Change

Specific Associated Task: Several Reliability Tasks are affected by change.

R1 Technical Risk Categorisation shall be used to
assess the impact of change.

December 2006 20
11 Risk and R&M Analysis and Modelling

The purpose of risk and reliability analysis and modelling is to create an understanding of how
the project is achieving the R&M goals and requirements and to inform project decision making
and design improvement. Risk and reliability analysis tools shall be used to identify system,
package or component failure modes with possible adverse consequences and to assess the
impact on R&M of all design changes. From these analyses, decisions shall be made about
design changes to improve reliability and/or maintainability.

Expectations
11.1 Project teams shall put into place and promote the use of risk and reliability analysis
and modelling techniques to identify failures associated with BP’s systems.

11.2 Contractors and suppliers should possess a high level of competence in the core
reliability analysis and modelling tools and techniques, including:

• Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Assessment (FMECA);

• Technical Risk Assurance Process (TRAP);
• Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) / Event Tree Analysis (ETA) / Reliability Block
Diagrams (RBD);
• System Availability Simulation.

11.3 Analyses should be applied as early as possible during the design process so that
they can be used to inform decision-making and identify where reliability
improvements are needed. Analyses should be capable of identifying and assessing:

• Susceptibility and vulnerability to damage and material deterioration;

• Damage and degradation tolerance of hardware;
• Human error in manufacture, assembly or installation;
• Common cause failure.

11.4 Analyses should refer to predictions based on expected service in addition to

historical experience of failures.

11.5 Risk and reliability assessments should be updated at specified intervals and as
changes are planned and referenced in the project DSP and BoD.

Link to Key Reliability Task

Key Process: 11 Risk and R&M Analysis and Modelling

Specific Associated Task R6 Reliability Analysis and Modelling

December 2006 21
12 Organisational Learning

This process involves the transformation of reliability related data and information generated by
all key processes and reliability tasks into organisational learning. The BP MPcp requires the
capture, collation and analysis of data and the generation of ‘lessons learned’ into a knowledge
base, with systems in place to communicate and integrate the lessons into improved practices.
The lessons learned usually cover the whole life of the project from strategic thinking and
decision making, through project execution and the delivery of benefits. Equally important are
activities, cultures and systems that support the proactive dissemination of this knowledge
throughout the supply chain. Training should include all levels of engineers and managers in the
project organisation with the aim to generate wide understanding of the reliability strategy, its
goals and methods. In addition, design engineers should become familiar and proficient in the
use of the tools, and understand root cause failure mechanisms and the impact of organisation
and human factors in design. Understanding the root cause of service failures is essential if
failures are not to re-occur.

Expectations
12.1 BP shall ensure their Lessons Capture strategy explicitly addresses any issues that
impact the ability to achieve the R&M goals and requirements, from both good and
bad practice, including early life or unexpected failures during equipment operation.

12.2 BP and its equipment suppliers and engineering contractors shall work together to
share failure information to improve product reliability.

12.3 BP and its equipment suppliers and engineering contractors shall work together to
understand the root cause of failure and to collect and convert failure information into
organisational knowledge.

12.4 BP, its suppliers and contractors shall develop in depth knowledge of how design and
manufacture, at system, package and component level, and the design and
manufacturing processes can influence failure and system reliability.

12.5 BP shall target training at understanding technical failure mechanisms and at how the
organisation and human factors cause mistakes directly impacting reliability.

12.6 BP shall encourage design engineers, lead engineers and project managers to
develop improved competency and understanding in reliability and undertake training
as necessary.

12.7 BP shall continue to develop improved reliability tools, testing methods.

Link to Key Reliability Tasks

Key Process: 12 Organisational Learning

Specific Associated Task R9 Reliability Data Collection and Lessons Capture

The project Lessons Learned Review (I.1) is an input
activity to the Reliability Tasks

December 2006 22
Glossary

BoD Basis of Design

DSP Decision Support Package

ETA Event Tree Analysis

Failure Mode Description of the manner in which failure has occurred or may occur

FAT Factory Acceptance Testing

FMECA Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis

FTA Fault Tree Analysis

Hazard Rate The fraction of failures of items in service per unit time

IM Integrity Management

Maximo Operations Knowledge Management Tool

MFFOP Minimum Failure Free Operating Period

MFOP Maintenance Free Operating Period

MPcp Major Projects Common Process

MTBF Mean Time Between Failures, average value of the times between failure

OREDA Offshore REliability Data

QM Quality Management

R&M Reliability and Maintainability

RAD Reliability Assurance Document

RBD Reliability Block Diagram

SIREN Subsea Investigation and Reporting of Events Network

SIT Site Integration Testing

TRAP Technical Risk Assurance Process

WELL MASTER Reliability Database of Well-completion Equipment

December 2006 23
Contact List

For Further information, please contact

David Brookes

Segment Engineering Technical Authority – Subsea EPTF

Email david.brookes@uk.bp.com

BP Exploration Operating Co Ltd.

Chertsey Rd

Sunbury-on-Thames

Middlesex

TW16 7LN

UK

+44 (01932) 762000

Mike Byrd

Global Subsea Performance Leader

Email michael.byrd@bp.com

EPTG.

Westlake 1

200 Westlake Boulevard

Houston

Texas

77079

USA

+1 (281) 366 3103

December 2006 24