-
Client
National Grid Grain LNG
-
Business need
Grain LNG asked Frazer-Nash to examine the original design intent of the facility, current state of health, and assess compliance with company specifications and industry standards/best practice, as well as health and safety regulatory expectations. This information identified the key areas of plant that required enhanced investment, overhaul, or modifications to inspection regimes, in order to manage plant and equipment risk.
-
Why Frazer-Nash?
Frazer-Nash offered a multi-disciplinary, risk based approach focussed on critical assets, to maximise the benefit of our assessment. We developed more than 550 key recommendations that have formed the basis for targeting an additional 15 years’ safe operation.
National Grid’s Grain LNG Phase 1 facility is approaching the end of its current operating contract and the business plan for future operations is in development. As an upper tier COMAH integrated facility it is large and complex, with many high-value critical systems of varying ages and condition. Grain LNG was seeking a systematic and detailed Basis of Design review, as part of an overall life extension review, to understand future threats to its plant integrity.
In-line with asset management best practice we proposed a technical approach that provided line of sight between our customer’s business objectives and detailed engineering assessments. Our innovative, risk-based approach focussed efforts on asset criticality (safety and production), delivering essential insight into the areas of key risk to the facility’s long-term operation. We deployed a multi-disciplinary team, who were able to offer the mechanical, electrical, controls, modelling, supportability and safety subject matter expertise needed to analyse and interpret the vast volume of supporting information, and to build excellent working relationships throughout the Grain LNG organisation. Our high level of on-site support improved collaboration, through activities such as facilitation of system workshops with site engineering and maintenance teams, and site based asset reviews.
Our systematic approach provided Grain LNG with confidence in scoping its future CAPEX/OPEX activities
We supplemented our asset-level analysis with a Future Utilisation plant numerical model, considering operational forecast scenarios and a high-level architecture. The output identified the key areas of operational risk in relation to potential capacity shortfalls and ability to meet peak demand.
Compliance with technical standards, best practise, corporate policy, industry regulations and legislation is critically important. Our subject matter experts conducted a Gap Analysis across all asset systems, identifying and reporting on shortfalls in compliance in order to scope any resolution activities required.
