Abstract:
The cost of loss of production in oil and gas plants is on average 6.5 times higher
than that of plants in any other industry. Thus the reliability performance and analysis of oil
and gas plants are unique. There have been many studies that have produced reliability indices
for equipment that is used in industrial distribution networks, but these are all industry generic
and none are specifi c to the oil and gas industry. This paper presents a set of equipment reliability
indices that has been established from data collected from oil and gas plants and is suitable for
use in reliability evaluations of the distribution networks of oil and gas plants. In the design of
distribution networks for new oil and gas plants, engineers either do not have enough operational
data, enough time or do not know how to perform the analysis required for establishing what type
of network topology to use. This paper recommends the optimal network topology to use in such
cases and provides evidence to support this proposal.
