ABSTRACT
In the design of processing plant a primary objective is to develop facilities which can process a commodity to the desired quality and quantity in a reliable and safe manner. Reliability of production, however, is only attractive when the cost of achieving it is justified by the benefits. The Troll Phase I Gas Project has focused much attention on the use of reliability engineering in combination with life cycle costing techniques to achieve an optimum design. In particular, these aspects have been emphasised because of the gas sales contract requirements and the very long operating life of the Troll platform. This paper describes the Troll Project's philosophy in this area, and explains the technical and economic premises for performing design assessments, and the evaluation procedure used at the pre-engineering stage. An example is given on the application of reliability engineering and life cycle costing methods to the comparison of two alternative system designs for condensate treatment.
