Using the Indexing Model for Risk Assessment of Pipelines

To an oil or gas company a single leak from a pipeline can cause numerous losses and may include: loss of commodity, property damage including fire, expensive repairs, service interruption, contamination of water supplies and loss of live stock, all of which lead to financial damage and deterioration of public relations. As an alternative, to avoid this kind of damages and improving the level of safety, risk management based on a quantitative risk assessment is being considered. The heart of the risk assessment will be the model or algorithm which takes raw information and turns it into risk information. Therefore, in this article the actual steps involved in risk assessment has been discussed and the indexing model for risk assessment of pipelines is introduced. In this approach, numerical values are assigned to important conditions and activities on the pipeline system that contribute to the risk picture. This technique is widely used and ranges from a simple one- or two-factor model to models with hundreds of factors considering virtually every item that impacts risk. The proposed model of risk assessment may be useful for risk management during the planning and building stages of a new pipeline, and modification of a buried pipeline.

Using the Indexing Model for Risk Assessment of Pipelines Keywords:

Indexing Model , Risk Assessment , Risk Management , Pipelines