The Subsea Obsolescence Management Joint Industry Project (JIP) was established to address the significant obsolescence issues being experienced by Oil & Gas operators as they attempt to upgrade ageing infrastructure or repair failures.

Obsolescence is a particular issue in subsea production systems due both to the long lifecycle of these (25 years or more) and difficulty and cost associated with accessing them to undertake repairs or upgrades.   The problem is compounded as the obsolescence timescales of many components are reducing to just a few months in some cases.

Obsolescence is inevitable and cannot be avoided, however, it can and should be managed in order to mitigate for and control its negative impact. To help in this respect the JIP has produced a Joint Operator Specification (JOS) and Recommended Practice (RP) for subsea obsolescence management (both of which are available for download from this website).