ABSTRACT
Currently, oil accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy consumption, ranging from as high as 53% for Middle East to as low as 32% for Europe and Asia [3]. Billions of dollars is spent every year in the oil and gas industry to design, construct/manufacture, operate, and maintain various types of systems/equipment around the globe. Safety and reliability in the oil and gas industry have become important issues due to various types of accidents and problems over the years. For example, in 1988, Piper Alpha offshore disaster in the United Kingdom resulted in 167 deaths and a total insured loss of approximately $3.4 billion [4,5].
