Asset Integrity Management (AIM) is a term used to describe the practice of managing an asset (power plant, oil rig, refinery, etc) to ensure its ability to perform its function effectively and efficiently is maintained. Well run AIM strategies ensure that the people, systems, processes and resources that enable an asset to deliver its function are in place over the life cycle of the asset, while simultaneously maintaining health and safety and environmental legislation. AIM applies to the entirety of an asset’s operation, from its design phase to its decommissioning and replacement.
The primary industry sector served by AIM is upstream oil and gas. This is owing to the escalating worldwide demand for energy, which has resulted in the oil and gas sector increasing investment into this area to extend the operational service life of existing rigs. However, the AIM process can be implemented for any asset of high value, including oil refineries, electrical power generation plants and chemical processing plants [1].
Asset Integrity Engineers focus on ensuring that an asset will perform its desired function over its life cycle. A constant challenge for AIM engineers is to balance the designing, maintenance and replacement of assets throughout their life cycle, while minimising costs to business in terms of finance, time and resources [2].
AIM engineers are required to conduct many tasks, including:
Pipelines are a crucial part of the energy delivery system. The oil and gas industry and its supply chain invest heavily to ensure that pipelines continue to meet the needs of the energy industry worldwide.
Pipeline integrity management (PIM) is the philosophy of implementing a cradle-to-grave approach of understanding and operating pipelines in a safe, reliable manner [3]. Pipeline operators need a pipeline integrity management solution which is able to store and integrate critical data about the pipeline route, materials, facilities, operations, inspections, repairs and modifications to ensure efficient through-life operational efficiency.
Pipeline operators are required to abide by regulations that require regular baseline evaluations of pipelines in areas where failures are most likely to occur and result in significant detrimental impact on public safety or the environment [3].
How Can TWI Help?
Close management of assets is essential to maintain safety, regulatory compliance and productivity, and balancing this imperative against potential cost is a constant challenge.
TWI works with companies to provide risk-based approaches and toolsets to help optimise the asset integrity management process, using our class-leading expertise and decades of experience to advise and implement cost-effective asset integrity management strategies.