Quite a large number of oil and gas major projects are failures with respect to their costs, schedules and operational performance. Owner companies and contractors are struggling with the issues causing these failures. Front End Engineering Design (FEED) has been identified as an important factor that plays a key role in determining the success of a project. However, the FEED and associated Front End Loading (FEL) do not get the attention it deserves from the players in the business, namely the owner companies, FEED and EPC contractors. While academic studies on the FEL and its failures are available, how the seeds of failures are sown during an actual project FEED, remains a mystery. The details are usually buried in the rubbished computers and hundreds of files, that are shelved in company offices. In this unique book, two experienced professionals, one from an owner company and the other from an international EPC contractor, whose interests often oppose each other, join to give their perspectives about the project life cycle, its governance structure, gate system, complexities, contract models and quality measurements. In the second part of the book, they present case studies of projects gone wrong, due to mismatches, errors, and inconsistencies in the FEED. These case histories reveal how avoidable gaps and errors creep into FEED resulting in project failures and how the review systems fail to detect them. Technical and business professionals seem to underestimate the importance of FEED in capital intensive major projects, while focussing on short term goals. The underlying causal factors need to be addressed and resolved in time properly, for ensuring success of major projects in oil and gas. Written in a concise and practical style, with key takeaways at the end of each chapter, this book will be a useful guide for the practising project and engineering professionals in the oil and gas industry. Senior students and researchers will find ideas and viewpoints given in the book worth exploring further.

Oil and gas industries apply several techniques for assessing and mitigating the risks that are inherent in its operations. In this context, the application of Bayesian Networks (BNs) to risk assessment offers a different probabilistic version of causal reasoning. Introducing probabilistic nature of hazards, conditional probability and Bayesian thinking, it discusses how cause and effect of process hazards can be modelled using BNs and development of large BNs from basic building blocks. Focus is on development of BNs for typical equipment in industry including accident case studies and its usage along with other conventional risk assessment methods. Aimed at professionals in oil and gas industry, safety engineering, risk assessment, this book Brings together basics of Bayesian theory, Bayesian Networks and applications of the same to process safety hazards and risk assessment in the oil and gas industry Presents sequence of steps for setting up the model, populating the model with data and simulating the model for practical cases in a systematic manner Includes a comprehensive list on sources of failure data and tips on modelling and simulation of large and complex networks Presents modelling and simulation of loss of containment of actual equipment in oil and gas industry such as Separator, Storage tanks, Pipeline, Compressor and risk assessments Discusses case studies to demonstrate the practicability of use of Bayesian Network in routine risk assessments

Oil and gas industries apply several techniques for assessing and mitigating the risks that are inherent in its operations. In this context, the application of Bayesian Networks (BNs) to risk assessment offers a different probabilistic version of causal reasoning. Introducing probabilistic nature of hazards, conditional probability and Bayesian thinking, it discusses how cause and effect of process hazards can be modelled using BNs and development of large BNs from basic building blocks. Focus is on development of BNs for typical equipment in industry including accident case studies and its usage along with other conventional risk assessment methods. Aimed at professionals in oil and gas industry, safety engineering, risk assessment, this book Brings together basics of Bayesian theory, Bayesian Networks and applications of the same to process safety hazards and risk assessment in the oil and gas industry Presents sequence of steps for setting up the model, populating the model with data and simulating the model for practical cases in a systematic manner Includes a comprehensive list on sources of failure data and tips on modelling and simulation of large and complex networks Presents modelling and simulation of loss of containment of actual equipment in oil and gas industry such as Separator, Storage tanks, Pipeline, Compressor and risk assessments Discusses case studies to demonstrate the practicability of use of Bayesian Network in routine risk assessments