DEVELOPMENT OF OFFSHORE COMPETENCIES FOR PIPELINE ENGINEERS

Transcription

1 DEVELOPMENT OF OFFSHORE COMPETENCIES FOR PIPELINE ENGINEERS Eric Jas Chris Harvey Allison Selman Managing Director Principal Consultant Asset and Integrity Business Stream Leader Atteris Pty Ltd Chris Harvey Consulting Atteris Pty Ltd September

2 Abstract Development of Offshore Competencies for Pipeline Engineers At the 2013 APIA Convention, a paper was presented on a proposal to develop competency standards for offshore pipeline engineers. 1 These competencies are designed to sit alongside the existing onshore pipeline engineering competency standards and have been developed using the same principles. Since 2013 a reference group consisting of senior engineers from the offshore industry, with assistance from a broad range of offshore industry participants, has drafted approximately 60 competencies. An expert review panel is in the process of reviewing them. Development of the offshore pipeline engineering competencies has provided lessons about the collaborative process of developing competencies using volunteers, which include the: Benefits of broad industry involvement through use of a core reference group assisted by a broader contributing group Nature of the offshore pipeline industry and link to other offshore disciplines, which led to constraining the competency list to matters related purely to offshore pipeline engineering Benefits of collaborating with associated industry groups to deliver a better result for the whole offshore industry. The Offshore Competencies are planned to be complete before the end of 2015 and be made available to the industry in Australia. There are also plans to capture the competencies into an international standard. Background APGA (then APIA) identified the need for a focussed approach to pipeline engineer training in the mid 2000s in response to a clearly emerging engineering skills shortage and expected loss of key senior pipeline engineers through retirement. After some considerable discussion with APGA s membership and consideration of the options, APGA commenced its first steps in the process of its Pipeline Engineer Training program in 2009 and One of the key steps was the development of the APGA Pipeline Engineer Competency Standards. The Competency Standards comprise a comprehensive range of competencies likely to be needed by pipeline engineers in a practical framework. 230 competencies were identified and 91 were written up in a succinct format that is easily accessible for the first edition of the Competency Standards released in October

3 Since their development APGA has worked to maximise the value of the competency standards to its members in a number of ways: Creation of individual and team competency assessment tools and a competency portfolio template Development of a comprehensive list of courses that can assist in the training and development of pipeline engineers Making the competencies, tools and resources easily web accessible Established formal registration of pipeline engineers under the banner of Engineers Australia Added competencies for plastics pipe and composite pipe Commenced the completion of the detailed write up of the remaining competency standards. The competency standards developed in 2010 recognised the need for competencies related to offshore pipelines, but the clear focus of the competencies was on onshore pipeline, reflecting the vast majority of APGA s membership. However, changes had been occurring and APGA was seeing an increasing interest from offshore industry members. In 2011, the seed of a project for developing competencies was planted with early discussions between Chris Harvey of APGA and Eric Jas the Managing Director of Atteris Pty Ltd, a medium sized subsea and pipeline engineering firm. By 2013 APGA had agreed that as the peak body representing both onshore as well as offshore pipelines in Australia that it was appropriate for it to develop the offshore competencies. Part of the impetus for developing the offshore competencies was the recognition of the need to improve the engineering of the interface between onshore and offshore pipelines. A reference group of volunteer senior offshore pipeline engineers was formed and the process of developing the offshore competencies commenced. The first observation of the reference group was that while there were clear parallels between onshore and offshore pipelines, the engineering of them is markedly different, for example: Route selection for offshore pipelines does not require as much consideration of land ownership management compared to onshore pipelines. Achieving the lowest possible wall thickness for pipe is not a priority offshore whereas it usually is for onshore pipelines. In other cases offshore pipelines can require exotic steel materials such as corrosion resistant alloys or stainless steel cladding. Offshore pipelines are usually laid onto the seabed whereas onshore pipelines are always buried. Offshore pipelines require consideration of hydrodynamic loads. Construction methods are vastly different. It became clear that the offshore competencies would need to be a distinct and different set from the onshore competencies. However, it was also clear that the offshore pipeline engineering competencies could benefit from the framework and competency standard format developed for the onshore pipeline engineering competencies and should, as far as possible align with them, as part of APGA s pipeline engineer competency framework. 3

4 Moreover, by developing the offshore pipeline engineering standards in close collaboration and dialogue with the Onshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Project, the gap at the interface between onshore and offshore pipelines could be bridged through the competencies. For the offshore industry a particular benefit of establishing a clear set of competencies for pipeline engineers (over and above any concern about a skills shortage) is that of providing a clear and common understanding of the expectations about the expertise of offshore pipeline engineers that is not currently present. Offshore Pipeline Engineering Competencies Details on the battery limits are unchanged from the paper presented in Clear delineations have been agreed with the Onshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Project. Given that there are concrete plans to develop a similar set of standards for subsea engineering, battery limits have also been agreed at this interface. Where originally more than 200 competencies were planned to be written in 20 categories 1, this has been trimmed down to 60 competencies in 12 categories, to achieve a more practical set of standards: General Engineering Flow Assurance Material, Welding and Corrosion Safety Management and Risk Assessment Environment and Heritage Design of Offshore Pipeline Systems Design of Small Secondary Structures Design of Risers (Rigid, Flexible, SCRs) Construction Engineering and Management Project Management Hydro-test, Commissioning and Preparation for Operation Asset Management and Pipeline Operations Competency Development Process The Offshore Pipeline Engineer Competency Project has been executed with the objective of adopting a highly collaborative process through engaging with the offshore industry and its key participants. The primary driver for this approach is to establish industry participation at an early stage of the project and by doing so, increase the probability in the long-term for the industrywide adoption of the competency standards. The key groups are presented in Figure 1. 4

5 Australian Pipeline and Gas Association (APGA) Onshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Project Offshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Project Reference Group Peer Review Group Contributing Group Figure 1: Key Groups in the Offshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Project Interface with APGA Onshore Pipeline Engineer Competency Project The Onshore Pipeline Engineer Competency Project is already established. To ensure there is consistency between the Onshore and Offshore Pipeline Engineer Competency Projects, the same APGA project manager and training advisor have been used liaising with and assisting the Reference Group. These APGA training personnel are essential to the process as they provide technical guidance and perform assurance duties, so that both projects are aligned and consistent. This is required for setting an industry benchmark and standard that can be consistently applied. Assignment of Reference Group The Reference Group is the core working group that is performing the work to deliver the suite of Offshore Pipeline Engineer Competencies to the APGA. The APGA training personnel participate and contribute to providing direction to this Reference Group. The Reference Group is being chaired by Atteris and comprises representatives from each of the major offshore oil and gas operators in Western Australia; as well as independent consultants. The Reference Group meets regularly to discuss the competency framework, review competencies that have been written and review industry comments on the draft competencies. Industry Involvement of Contributing Group Members of the Reference Group and the Contributing Group draft competencies or perform technical review of draft competencies. The group is comprised of individuals from companies that have chosen to provide in-kind support. The breadth and depth of the expertise of participants within the contributing group matches the full scope of the offshore competencies. By involving companies and individuals who are recognised in their specialist discipline areas, the Reference Group has assurance about the appropriateness of the requirements in each competency and that they has been written with clearly stated requirements and expectations. 5

6 Expert Panel Group The Expert Panel Group comprises individuals from Australia, Asia, Europe and the USA, who have significant experience in the offshore pipeline industry and are considered to be national and global leaders within the industry. Individual members were identified by the Reference Group and invited by APGA to participate as third-party peer reviewers of the competencies. The breadth and depth of participants expertise also matches the full scope of the competencies, benefitting from both domestic and international representation within the group. Integrated Review Process An integrated review process utilising each of these groups has been adopted to ensure that the written competencies are of high quality and are consistent with industry needs and expectations. To kick-off the process, APGA held a workshop for the Reference Group and Contributing Group to enable the members of the two groups to have a clear understanding of the context of the competencies requirements for effective drafting. All participants were provided with the APGA Competency Drafting Guidelines to further facilitate consistency of drafts and reviews of the competencies. Each competency that is drafted is subject to an independent technical review either by a Reference Group or Contributing Group member. Once the author and reviewer are satisfied with the draft competency, it is reviewed by the Reference Group. Following on from this, the competency is reviewed by APGA to ensure compliance with APGA requirements and consistency with the Onshore Pipeline Engineering Competency Project. A final review is performed by the Reference Group before release to the Expert Panel for peer review. Upon receipt of comments from the Expert Panel, the competencies are updated by the Reference Group to incorporate Panel comments. When the full suite of competencies have been reviewed by the Expert Panel, a final update and review will be performed by the Reference Group across the full suite prior to release to APGA for publication and release. This integrated review process can be time consuming and involves a significant number of revisions and reviews. However, it does result in high quality competencies due to the considered input and knowledge from many individuals. Implementation of Competencies Once the offshore pipeline engineering competencies have been completed APGA will publicly launch them, initially to its membership and then as is appropriate to a wider audience. Release and availability of the competency standards will be via APGA s website. It is envisaged that a similar set of resources and tools will be provided alongside the competencies enhancing their usefulness. These tools mean that member companies and their engineers can start putting the competencies to use. APGA has identified at least eight ways in which the onshore competencies can be used. These can be expected to apply to the offshore competencies. They are: Determining if a pipeline engineer is competent for a particular role or activity Improving clarity of job descriptions Competency gap analysis at industry, company, department and individual level Recognition of current skills and knowledge Recruitment Creating pipeline engineer development plans Development of pipeline engineer training programs Personal career planning. 6

7 In addition, APGA anticipates that Engineers Australia will recognise offshore pipeline engineering as a specific engineering area of practice. If this is correct APGA will work with Engineers Australia to establish the necessary panels and assessment processes to enable offshore pipeline engineers can achieve registration. As for onshore pipeline engineering the competency standards can be expected to form the basis of the assessment criteria for registration. Another difference between onshore and offshore pipelines is that the offshore pipeline industry, which is a subset of the offshore oil and gas industry, is highly internationalised. A majority of oil and gas companies operating in the waters offshore Australia are multinational corporations that operate in many countries. Moreover, the engineers working for these companies are sourced from around the world and the offshore pipelines they design, build and operate are covered by international standards; the primary standard being DNV OS-F101. Even part 4 of the Australian Standard for oil and gas pipelines, AS 2885, calls up this standard rather than develop its own. The likely result is that the offshore competencies developed by the WA Reference Group under the auspices of APGA could potentially be applied outside of Australia. While the offshore competencies have been designed to ensure they meet the requirements of the offshore industry, they are fundamentally what would be required in many offshore contexts. Obvious exceptions would be in the Arctic regions where additional design considerations related to the operating temperature range are not covered by the APGA competencies. APGA s initial and primary focus for implementing the offshore pipeline engineering competencies will be its Australian members. As for the onshore competencies, there can be expected to a period of time needed to help the Australian industry become aware of the competencies and how they can be used for the benefit of members and their engineers. In time they can be expected to be the industry standard for matters of engineering capability and development as is becoming the case for the onshore industry. However, the potential adoption of the competencies internationally is an opportunity that APGA will be aware of and will, if appropriate take an active role in, with a view to look to gaining benefits for its members through such recognition, should it occur. Lessons Learned and Observations There have been a number of lessons learned through the development of the offshore pipeline engineer competency standards: The first is the importance of industry wide support. The development of the offshore competencies, while under the auspices of APGA, has largely been led by members of the WA offshore pipeline community. Their success to date has also depended on the willingness of a broader representation of the WA offshore pipeline community. This industry wide support has enabled highly specialised competencies to be drafted with a high level of confidence about its content and reliability. It has also shared the workload that would otherwise have been prohibitive. Ultimately, it will be this broad involvement that will lead to industry acceptance and utilisation of the competency standards. A second lesson is that under the right circumstances industry wide participation is possible. The key circumstances were a perceived need for the competencies and a collaborative volunteer approach to the development of the competencies. 7

8 Alongside this is the fact that other parts of the offshore industry are seeing the similar need, and want to address it. This has been borne out through interaction with the Society of Offshore Technology (SUT), which has been moving down a path of recognising the need for competencies for a range of engineers working in the offshore sector. As a result of this SUT and AGPA have agreed to coordinate the development of their respective competencies to avoid overlap and, as far as possible, deliver competency standards that are consistent and can operate alongside each other readily, to the benefit of the industry. A further lesson is that it is possible to gain the contributions of international industry experts, where the proposal is filling a clear need and is well articulated. The willingness of well recognised international industry members has been a major benefit to the standing and recognition that the offshore competencies can be expected to hold. A final lesson is that there is scope for the, up until now quite separate onshore and offshore pipeline sectors to be drawn together in a cooperative way and gain from each other s insights. Conclusion Competency based training and development is widely recognised as the most effective and efficient means of delivering competent professionals. The APGA offshore pipeline engineer competency project is an extension of APGA s recognition of the need to take the lead in developing a framework that can make a significant contribution to the development of pipeline engineering capability of the industry. The success of the onshore pipeline engineer competencies provides an indication of what is possible for the offshore pipeline engineer capability. The approach adopted for development of the offshore pipeline competencies has been different in a number of respects from that adopted for the onshore pipelines. This reflects the many differences in the structure of the offshore industry. The offshore reference group has adapted its approach very successfully in a way that is likely to lead to broad acceptance of the competency standards across the Australian offshore oil and gas industry. It is remarkable that there does not seem to be a similar venture in respect of either onshore or offshore pipeline engineering anywhere else in the world. APGA has already had approaches from The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association about possible adoption and adaptation of the APGA competencies for use in North America. It seems quite possible that the offshore competencies may also find interest outside of Australia, especially given the higher level of internationalisation of the offshore industry. Time will tell. These are indications of the importance of developing effective competency based systems for training, development and recognition of pipeline engineers. Oil and gas pipelines are highly efficient ways of transporting petroleum. As is well known failures of pipeline can have catastrophic consequences to both people and the environment. Effective training, development of pipeline engineers must be an essential critical element in ensuring the safety, environmental sustainability and the efficiency of oil and gas pipelines. The development of the offshore pipeline engineering competency standards alongside the onshore competency standards provide a firm base for the training and development of the whole oil and gas pipeline engineer community in Australia and for a better approach to the onshore/offshore interface as well. 8

9 References 1. Jas, E. and Harvey, C. (2013), Expanding APIA s Pipeline Engineer Training Program Offshore Competencies, APIA Convention, September Harvey, C. (2010), Planning Ahead for Pipeline Engineer Training, APIA Convention, October Axelrod, W. and Coyle, J. (2013), Deliver Results and Develop People at the Same Time, American Management Association, September