Tests of the blowout preventers (BOPs) must be planned with care. External regulators need to assess that all appropriate components were tested and whether or not they were tested to the correct pressures. Internal users need a tool that is sophisticated enough to help them mitigate risk and robust enough to allow them to respond rapidly to changes to a test plan that are encountered on-the-fly in the field.

Based on its many years of experience with multiple operators in the field, Hecate has developed Blueprint, a pallette-driven test planning tool that allows user to draw highly complex BOP and choke manifold designs with a simple drag-and-drop interface. Icons for components - valves, IBOPs, annulars, rams, etc. - are dropped onto a drawing region to create designs that can be tested. Each test involves setting the state of each of these components; valves can be opened and closed, pumps can be turned-on, etc.

As each new test is created, Blueprint mitigates risk in a number of ways including a.) by ensuring that user-specified required tests are performed, b.) by notifying the user immediately when isolated cavities or open flow paths are present in a test and c.) by reporting planned test pressures that exceed component pressure ratings. Blueprint is used for planning tests days or weeks in advance of the start of testing as well also for editing test plans by users in-the-field who need to reflect configuration changes of a test plan that occur routinely during real-world testing (e.g., the movement of the Kelly Hose from Test 3 to Test 7).

Blueprint is used to plan the tests performed by GreenLight which was approved for use as the system-of-record for BOP tests by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in 2015 and again in 2017. Blueprint has been used at various locations worldwide.

For more information, please contact Hecate Software via e-mail at Eric Livesay or by calling (817) 921-2879. GreenLight is licensed exclusively through our partner, Offshore Technical Compliance (OTC). They can be contacted through their website https://otcompliance.com.