The West Java Rehabilitation Project, A Holistic, Integrated Approach to Consistently Conform to Safety Standards, Ensure the Readiness of The Facilities for Continues Production
Authors: Prawirowijoto Panarto 
Published: December 2007

BP West Java (BPWJ) has operated the oil and gas fields located offshore in the northwestern part of the Java Sea since 1970. This asset consists of more than 200 offshore structures, with 11 manned flow-stations and more than 350 subsea pipelines totaling about 1,600 km that are spread across a geographic area of 350 km x 150 km.

The strategic objective of BP West Java is to conduct safe and efficient operations and manage the declines by developing the remaining reserves more efficiently. In recent years, the facilities and wells have suffered progressive deterioration that has affected production and increased the potential for major accidents at the offshore facilities. An ongoing integrity management plan, in place since 2002, has served to continuously reduce risks related to integrity and deterioration issues. However, the pace and resources of this plan have not been sufficient to consistently meet all levels of safety and, as a result, the facilities are coming under increasing risks.

The West Java Rehabilitation Project is a holistic, integrated project designed to: Overcome major accident and hazard risks,Eliminate cold vents and unlit flares,Upgrade safety systemsIncrease the integrity of deteriorating parts,Improve the system to meet production reliability & efficiency targets,Upgrade all systems to conform to the latest industry standards.

Unlike new development project or green-field projects, the issues addressed in rehabilitation or brown-field projects are very large and complex. Process risk management integrates scientific, engineering, behavioral and general management functions into a single framework that focuses on identification, assessment, treatment and control of risks. Risk management forms the basis to assess and evaluate the project's input and output indicators. It includes comprehensive assessment modeling of: Major accident risks,Individual risks,Quantitative risk assessments,Major hazard risks,Fire & explosion risks,Emergencies & evacuations,Non-hydrocarbon hazards,System survivability analyses,Cost & benefit analyses.

These risk management approaches give clear figures about the levels of safety of the facilities and provide levels of priority for each scope of rehabilitation.

Executing construction work on the offshore facilities is another complicated issue. Constraints include limited shutdown time, access and space for construction, the availability of resources and personal safety risks. Prioritizing the project's various scopes, with levels of risk reduction embedded in each priority, will help the project management team to develop rigorous, realistic project execution strategies that should ensure the most optimal outcomes. The rehabilitation of the BPWJ facilities has been developed to include phased-release processes and prioritizations as major integrated components.

The BPWJ Java Rehabilitation Project is a major project designed to ensure that the aging facilities are thoroughly transformed into safe places to work, that production reliability is improved, and that the asset continuity is maintained to consistently conform to the latest standards and regulations.

This paper focuses on how to manage the complexities of the rehabilitation into a manageable project scope and planning by using rigorous risk management processes. The author presents the issues that commonly exist in the aging facilities in oil & gas industry. This paper emphasizes the approach to the common industry practices rather than BP guidelines, so that it will appeal to a wider audience.