UPTIME for Gas Distribution Networks

The safety, reliability and cost effective operation of millions of miles of gas distribution network mains around the world are of paramount importance to millions of gas consumers and the network operators who supply them. Because of the proximity to densely populated urban areas an incident on a gas distribution main or service line will have an increased likelihood, compared to some oil and gas assets, of direct impact on the public.  Failure can cause not only the inconvenience of lost gas supply to the public and associated lost revenue to the asset owner but many incidents per year lead to fatalities to the public.Noble Offshore recognises the significance of the safe operation of gas distribution networks as part of the UPTIME product suite – a fully integrated solution for their integrity and risk management. With a selection of powerful business decision tools the UPTIME offering is also the solution of choice for those who wish to implement and support a performance based integrity management plan for their gas distribution network.Noble Offshore has true reach with on the ground resources in more regions and countries than any of its competitors helping make our asset integrity software solutions a market leader in the support of the gas distribution industry.  As part of their commitment to the safe operation of gas distribution assets Noble Offshore is leading the way in support of the regulations for integrity management of gas distribution networks in the United States.The UPTIME distribution solution provides the essential components for the effective implementation and support of distribution integrity management requirements around the world.

Information Integration

The foundations of sound asset integrity related business decisions and driving safe and reliable operations by design are good information management policies and practices. The recording, tracking and storage of this information is a fundamental requirement for any utility or network operator and it is not only the cornerstone of all policy laid down by legislative bodies but a necessity for well informed businesses to ensure cost effective and safe operation of their asset. Good information management will provide decision makers with the information they require when and where they need it.

Noble Offshore recognises this need and has ensured that it is central to their asset integrity solutions. With UPTIME for gas distribution you will find a central information repository built around an industry leading  LA database model for Gas Distribution.

Other essential requirements for data integration and information management provided by UPTIME are:

Keeping Track of Business Processes: The UPTIME Activity Manager is a key to effective process management by linking business processes with assets and associated inspection or condition information, for example tracking CP (Cathodic Protection) readings for a collection of test posts associated with a gas main.

Managing Documentation: UPTIME provides a mechanism for linking activities, business processes, or assets with documents held external to UPTIME, for example in a document management system. It also has inbuilt report management functionality for managing reports generated by the UPTIME analysis tools.

Information Extraction: The easy to use Data Query Manager allow users to build, store and run simple or complex queries on the database and extract information based on spatial location or asset attribute information. This is used as the basis for reporting and as a means of aggregating, mains, services or other asset categories for input to the risk analysis.

Risk Assessment

UPTIME provides the most comprehensive spatial risk analysis tool on the market and can help users configure their risk assessment programme to become a powerful business analysis and decision making environment.  With the ability to build, maintain and deploy qualitative, semi-quantitative or fully quantitative risk models this highly flexible environment can be configured to meet the needs of any operator. Reporting and visualisation tools provide the user with powerful methods to help understand the threats to their pipeline system and the degree of threat posed. This permits them to take early preventative and corrective actions in the management of their gas network and helps reduce the risk of environmental, societal and business loss incidents.The Risk Assessment Manager can be configured with a gas network operator’s own risk models or they can be provided by configuring a range of industry leading risk models available from Noble Offshore, including those being developed for the IR market to directly meet the needs of recent legislation. The Noble Offshore risk consulting staff can assist in the correct choice and configuration of models to fit the business requirements.

Compliance and Inspection Management

A complete solution for integrity, risk and compliance management can be provided by including Noble Offshore’s ESSENTIALS alongside UPTIME in a fully integrated environment. ESSENTIALS can manage all your scheduled inspection needs including leak patrols, corrosion management, valve inspections and many other compliance needs.

Mains Replacement Prioritisation (MRP)

MRP is a powerful decision support tool for operators of gas distribution mains helping reduce operating costs and enhancing safety and reliability.  It comprises a risk based methodology to prioritise which mains to replace and can be used with either its own inbuilt mains condition models or risk models configured in the UPTIME Risk Modeller. The planning and scenario evaluation tools allow the comparison of multi-year strategies for the replacement programme helping develop plans which maximise the return on maintenance and capital expenditure budgets.

Used as part of a distribution integrity management plan, MRP can help a gas distribution network operator reduce their system risk and optimise their maintenance budget. This can be achieved by targeting repairs on mains which may not be scheduled for replacement or by accelerating the replacement of mains which may require multiple repairs over a defined time period, the cost of which exceeds the cost of replacement.