At extraction sites, liquids and gases are present at high pressures in the surrounding area and below the site. Once tapped, the pressure at the mouth of the well can be significant, and appropriate equipment must be kept in place to ensure that leaks or ruptures do not occur. Power failure can impede the monitoring equipment and the performance of equipment used to stabilize the rate of extraction and to counter the pressure from the well.
Sustained loss of power can increase the risk of leaks and spills, which in addition to resulting in a loss of revenue, can also have associated clean-up costs, fines and costs due to loss of reputation and future business. Ruptures can also be explosive in nature and cause additional damage to equipment around the mouth of the well.
In situations where the oil or gas is being transported offsite via a pipeline, there will be the need for a pumping station to maintain a flow over long distances. In the event of power loss, the pumping station could shut down, reducing or stopping the flow to the end of the pipeline, and lower utilization of pipeline capacity. In the case of oil, this could result in tankers at a port that cannot be filed according to schedule and missed shipping deadlines. Repeated missed deadlines can result in loss of contracts or penalties from customers. For gas, the product may not reach its end user, and countries or cities at the end of the pipeline could experience temporary shortages.
Monitoring equipment to evaluate the pressure within the pipeline and their integrity to identify leaks or spills can also be knocked offline as a result of a power failure. This could result in a leak going undetected for hours or days, leading to lost revenue and fines for environmental damage.
Power failure at an oil and gas site can pose significant risks, and as outlined above can result in the incurring of various associated costs for the resource company. These costs can be avoided by having sufficient failsafe capacity in place to deal with such eventualities and provide replacement power when failures occur. Get in touch with a power generation expert today to find out how you can install additional generator capacity at your site to insure your company against the costs associated with power failure.
