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GAS TESTING
Procedure

CONTRACT NO. : POGC-84-801-244

PROJECT: SOUTH PARS GAS FIELD DEVELOPMENT
PHASES 17&18
COMPANY: PARS OIL & GAS COMPANY
SITE: ASSALUYEH, IRAN

0 Issued for Comment OICO R.Akbarzade Y.Jalalat E.Harounian M.Davoodi

REV. DATE DESCRIPTION Originator Prepared Checked Approved Authorized

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Page Rev 0 Rev 1 Rev 2 Page Rev 0 Rev 1 Rev 2

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Table of Content

1. Purpose
2. Scope
3. Responsibilities
4. Procedures

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1.0 Purpose
The purpose of this procedure is to assist in ensuring the safety of personnel and the plant from the
hazards of:
• Toxic and combustible gases
• Oxygen deficiency / enrichment.

2.0 Scope
This procedure is applicable for each South Pars Phases17&18 project location where Hydrocarbons,
oil and gas are produced and/or treated and where presence of Toxic and combustible gases and
Oxygen deficiency / enrichment possibility has been proven.

3.0 Responsibilities
3.1 Site Manager
The Site Manager is responsible:
• To ensure that the work is carried out as per this present document, where necessary.
• To ensure that a system is in place to train and to evaluate the competency of the designated
gas testers.
• To provide sufficient numbers of compatible and approved gas detection equipment on site.
• Adequate calibration and test equipment, with spare parts that can be fitted on site.
• Sufficient numbers of escape equipment as required by the numbers of persons who may be
exposed.

3.2 HSE Manager

The HSE Manager is responsible for:
• Monitoring the safety of all working practices.
• Custody of portable gas detection equipment and the training of the site designated gas
testers.
• Ensuring that all necessary tests are carried out as required by the Work site condition and as
stated by the permit to work system upon completion of a specific risk assessment.
• Ensuring that Supervision and Subcontractor management are familiar with this procedure
and that all persons concerned are trained as well.
• Monitoring site conditions and ensuring that persons who may be affected by this procedure
are aware of the hazards and precautions to be taken.
• Arrange for the necessary training of personnel for testing, calibration and maintenance of
records.
• Updating this procedure as necessary.

3.3 Maintenance Superintendent

The Maintenance Superintendent is responsible:
• For ensuring that routine calibration checks of all portable gas detectors are carried out in
accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions.
• Planning the work, as far as practicable, to include contingency plans and arrangements.
• To provide sufficient signs, barriers and flashing lights as appropriate to the area covered.

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3.4 Production Superintendent / Authority

The Production Superintendent is responsible:
• For ensuring that all the necessary gas checks have been identified and carried out prior to
the issue of relevant Work Permits.
• Ensuring that when occasions requiring work in areas affected by toxic and combustible
gases and oxygen deficiency / enrichment possibility, necessary precautions are in place as
per work permit requirements.
• Planning the work, as far as practicable, to include contingency plans and arrangements.
• Provision of instruction with regard to the hazards and arrangements in place.

4.0 Procedures
4.1 General
Gas testing in this procedure refers to portable gas detection, not fixed gas detection. These
procedures supplement the manufacturers’ procedures: they DO NOT replace them. The importance
of gas testing for flammable gas, toxic vapors and gases, and oxygen deficiency cannot be over-
emphasized. Personnel who carry out gas testing, i.e. the nominated Authorized Gas Testers, must
be thoroughly trained in its use and the significance of the results. Before using any gas testing
equipment it should be checked according to the check procedure in the manufacturer's manual and
the validity of its last calibration verified. Portable detectors are used to supplement the fixed
detection system. They must be used before the issuance of the relevant work permit. Care must be
taken around valve spindles, flanges, drains and in floor voids. Probes should be used to reach
inaccessible places.
Warning: A particular attention should be given to areas adjacent to the work site which conditions
could be altered by the work in hands (particularly temperature increase), since sludge's
and deposits might be starting to evaporate and to create an explosive / toxic
atmosphere only after a certain period of time.
The atmosphere must be sampled at the following places:
• In the actual work area
• In areas in which products of the work may fall (e.g. welding slag, sparks, etc.)
• In areas which may be affected by the work (e.g. inside a tank if welding work is to be
performed on the outside and therefore cause high surface temperatures, etc.)

When testing inside vessels, remember that some toxic gases are heavier than air and that gases
can be released when sludge is disturbed. Before allowing a vessel to be entered, the vessel entry
procedure must be followed.
These procedures set down the general conditions for the instruments provided for:
• Indication of the presence of toxic or flammable gases
• Indication of oxygen deficiency or enrichment
• Measurement of the concentration of selected gases
• Monitoring the atmosphere to provide a warning of the presence of toxic or

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Combustible gases: All meters and instruments must be EX rated as intrinsically safe. They are
suitable for use with all saturated hydrocarbon gas and Hydrogen (gas group IIC) but not for
Acetylene for which specific equipment is required. They should also show an in date calibration tag
and should be identified by a unique Identification Number.
The principles for safe and accurate gas testing might be summarized as followed:
• Gas testing personnel must be fully trained in all aspects of gas testing. Competency
assessment to be set up before Gas Testers nomination.
• Gas testing equipment must be regularly maintained and a written maintenance record kept.
• Tests must be carried out prior to, during and after the issue of a Permit to Work.
• Gas monitors should be checked for sample using calibration sample gas prior to use each
shift.
• Any atmosphere being sampled must be approached as if it is flammable and/or toxic and due
precautions taken.
• The possibility of oxygen deficiency or enrichment must also be considered.
• Care must be taken to ensure that tests are representative of the atmosphere and that results
are reproducible. It is not sufficient to rely on a sample taken from only one point since
pockets and layers of varying gas concentration may exist.
• Prior to gas testing: Check that the plant is operating under the desired conditions and note
any

Special conditions Select the sampling positions Select the apparatus to be used Determine the
duration and the periodicity of sampling.
The method and equipment used for gas tests must be selected with regard to the nature of the
atmosphere likely to be present.

4.2 Combustible Gases

The explosive, or flammability limits of gases and vapors, are normally expressed as a volume
percentage range between Lower and Upper Levels. These levels vary for different compounds and it
is the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL - i.e. the lowest volume concentration of gas that will ignite, or
explode, in air when exposed to a source of ignition) that is used as a basis for the combustible gas
test. The table below lists the Lower and Upper Explosive Limits of gases of particular interest: For
example, in an atmosphere containing Methane, a reading of 10 % LEL on the explosimeter dial
indicates that the actual concentration in the air is 10 % of 5.3 = 0.53 % by volume. Note that an
explosimeter needs oxygen to give a true reading. Unless otherwise stated in manufactures’
manual; Explosimeter to measure the % of LEL do not work correctly when the atmosphere contains
less than 15% Oxygen. Before opening a vessel or pipe work to the atmosphere always ensure it is
free from gases and hydrocarbon content.

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4.3 Combustible Gas Detectors

Combustible gas tests must be carried out using only gas detectors suitably calibrated for use with
hydrogen and/or hydrocarbon gas mixtures. Meter readings are given as a percentage of the LEL of
the combustible gas and it is this result which must be specified in the appropriate space of the Work
Permit. Sludge or scale, within a vessel, gives off vapor when disturbed and/or heated, this fact must
be borne in mind when testing for gas in a confined space to determine the suitability for entry.
Before and after each series of tests, or up to a maximum of two hours continuous use, the meter
must be checked for minimum response, following the procedure in the instruction manual. Oils
heavier than kerosene do not give off sufficient vapors at ambient temperature to be detected. Work
places must, therefore always be visually inspected for the presence of such oils, and if present, they
must be removed, or blanketed, to the satisfaction of Production/Site Superintendent and the Safety
Authority. Information and results from detectors and any gas chromatography analysis must be
reported to the person in charge of the installation and the Safety Authority for assessment.
Water, or liquid hydrocarbons, must not be allowed to enter the instrument. When testing sumps
or equipment where liquid could be present, a liquid trap must be fitted to the sample line.

Warning:
The calibration gas used should be as closed as possible from the potentially
explosive atmosphere monitored. Particularly the reading of the explosimeter when
sampling condensates vapors might be over optimistic if methane is used as
calibration gas (which is generally the case in gas processing plant).

4.4 Continuous monitors

There are various instruments available for the continuous monitoring of combustible gas
atmosphere. Some instruments are designed as free-standing, self-powered units fitted with a
portable diffusion head and flammable gas and vapor detectors. They are used with an alarm system.
Gas concentrations up to 100 % LEL are indicated on a meter and the alarm is a penetrating audio
signal, coupled with a flashing lamp. The level at which the alarm operates can be pre-set by internal
adjustment.
By the addition of an aspirator the monitor can be used for spot sampling.

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Warning:
Combustible gas detectors are designated to detect gas in AIR. It is not possible for the
instrument to give an accurate LEL reading in a steam, inert or oxygen deficient /
enriched atmosphere.
Special equipment ("Tank safe" monitor) or chemical detector tubes shall be used in
such cases.

4.5 Toxic and suffocating gases

4.51 Maximum permissible concentration

The toxic gases most likely to be encountered are Hydrogen Sulfide (H 2 S) and Carbon Monoxide
(CO). The maximum concentrations of these toxic gases for entry are as follows:

MAXIMUM CONCENTRATIONS OF TOXIC GAS (PPM) FOR ENTRY

Entry without Entry With Suitable No Entry Purge

Gas
Breathing Apparatus Breathing Apparatus & Retest

Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) < 1 PPM 1 to 20 PPM > 20 PPM

Carbon Monoxide (CO) < 1 PPM 1 to 250 PPM > 250 PPM

There are two methods used for the detection of toxic gases:
• Portable Detectors, used for continuous monitoring.
• Detector Tubes, used to measure the concentration in a spot test.

4.5.2 Portable detectors (continuous monitoring)

By means of interchangeable sensor heads some types of portable detectors allow the monitoring of
hydrogen, carbon monoxide or sulfur dioxide content in the range 0 - 200 PPM. The instrument gives
audible and visual alarms, which are adjustable throughout the measuring range.
Two levels of alarm produce a different tone and visual LED indication at the Long and Short Time
Exposure Limit (LTEL and STEL) values of the toxic gas being measured. The concentration is
displayed on a meter in PPM.

4.5.3 Detector tubes (spot tests)

The concentration of a specific toxic gas can be determined by measuring the length of the stain
produced in a chemically filled tube, when a measured volume of sample gas is drawn, under pre-

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determined conditions, through the tube. Detector tubes are available for the various toxic gases
likely to be present during operations. For the correct operating procedures refer to the
Manufacturers Instructions Manual.

4.5.4 Hydrogen sulfide

The response to the body to Hydrogen Sulfide is detailed in the document “Hydrogen Sulfide Ref.
No.: TOT-1718-999-9020-0022”.

4.6 Oxygen Deficiency

Before entering a vessel or enclosed space, tests of the oxygen content of the atmosphere must be
made. Tests must also be carried out whenever there is any doubt as to purity of the air within a
vessel. Internal rusting of the metal in a closed empty tank, which has been unused for some time,
may cause oxygen deficiency.
Oxygen deficiency tests are carried out by:

• Oxygen Monitors - continuous checking.

• Multi-gas Detectors - spot checks.

Clearance to enter a vessel or confined space without wearing breathing apparatus is only given
when the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is inacceptable level. (Refer to document
“Confined Space Entry Ref. No.: TOT-1718-999-9020-0020”)