Subsea blowout preventer (BOP) soak testing is a long-standing part of pre-deployment programs. However, it remains one of the least consistently executed aspects of BOP control system evaluation. While teams perform the test routinely, they often overlook insight into stabilized pressure behavior.
Once a subsea BOP stack is deployed offshore, limited access significantly increases the cost of uncertainty. In 2023, IPT Global collaborated with Seadrill on an article published by Drilling Contractor examining the operational value of standardizing BOP soak testing and proposing a structured framework aligned with the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) Standard 53.
A subsea BOP soak test is a pressure stabilization procedure. Rigs perform it during pre-deployment testing to evaluate the integrity of the BOP control system under sustained pressure conditions. Unlike dynamic testing, soak testing allows pressures to stabilize and the system to settle into equilibrium.
During this stabilized period is when that behavior often emerges. Gradual pressure decay or inconsistent regulator response become apparent once transient effects dissipate. These conditions are not always obvious but can directly influence stack readiness and long-term system reliability.
Identifying these issues before deployment allows for investigation with limited operational impact. When teams do not identify these behaviors, they often surface during operations. At that stage, troubleshooting options are fewer and consequences are more costly.
Despite the importance of well control assurance, subsea BOP soak testing still varies across rigs, fleets, and regions. Common differences include test duration, applied pressure, acceptance criteria, and documentation practices.
In practice, this variability rarely reflects a lack of focus on safety. In IPT Global’s experience supporting pre-deployment testing, variability most often reflects legacy practices, differing OEM guidance, and misaligned acceptance thresholds. Over time, these inconsistencies make results difficult to compare and increase reliance on interpretation rather than data-driven evidence.
Standardizing subsea BOP soak testing does not mean removing operational judgment or imposing rigid procedures across all systems. Instead, it establishes a shared baseline that supports clearer execution and more consistent interpretation of results.
In the article, we discussed the operational value of more structured subsea BOP soak testing, aligned with API Standard 53. The intent was to reduce unnecessary variability while preserving flexibility across different BOP configurations.
Soak testing offers a rare opportunity to observe control system behavior once transient pressure effects have stabilized. When teams miss or inconsistently execute that opportunity, they overlook meaningful indicators of system health. API Standard 53 already serves as the foundation for subsea BOP equipment system requirements. Expanding guidance to clearly address soak testing would strengthen consistency while preserving flexibility across different system designs and operating environments.
Digital pressure data enables teams to review stabilization trends directly, revealing gradual decay, irregular stabilization, and repeatable anomalies across tests.
With IPT Global’s Equipment Health Monitoring HealthAnalytics software and Monitoring service, digital diagnostics capture high-resolution pressure behavior during soak testing, enabling objective, contextual evaluation of subtle trends. Engineers in IPT Global’s Real-Time Operations Center (RTOC) monitor test data in real time and support decision-making during pre-deployment activities.
Together, our HealthAnalytics and Monitoring modules strengthen engineering judgment rather than replace it. Objective data provides a common reference point, improves alignment between operators, drilling contractors, and OEMs, and supports more confident decisions related to deployment readiness and pre-deployment assurance.
Subsea BOP soak testing delivers value through how teams evaluate results and act on them. Programs that consistently derive data-driven insight approach soak testing as part of a broader assurance process.
As subsea systems continue to increase in complexity, the ability to reduce uncertainty before deployment becomes increasingly important. Subsea BOP soak testing remains one of the few opportunities to observe control system behavior under stabilized pressure conditions.
Through the SureTec® Equipment Health Monitoring solution, IPT Global applies a consistent, data-driven approach to subsea BOP soak testing during pre-deployment operations. By focusing on how control systems behave under stabilized pressure conditions, teams gain clearer insight into system performance before deployment decisions are made.
As subsea systems continue to grow in complexity, the way soak testing is executed and interpreted matters more than ever. Aligning practices with API Standard 53 provides a common framework for evaluating control system behavior, reducing unnecessary variability, and strengthening well control assurance across fleets. When teams pair that framework with objective pressure data and structured evaluation, soak testing becomes less about confirming pressure holds and more about understanding what the system is communicating before it goes offshore.
Looking ahead, IPT Global continues to advance digital software integrations that support consistent application of subsea BOP testing practices and ongoing improvement across the testing lifecycle.
For additional context, read the full article published in Drilling Contractor: Standardizing subsea BOP soak testing: overview of value and recommended best practices – Drilling Contractor by Patrick Hillard and Leonard Childers, IPT Global; and Ahmed Omar, Seadrill
Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) systems operate under demanding conditions, where small deviations in pressure or hydraulic behavior can escalate into equipment failure, unplanned non-productive time (NPT), and increased well control risk. Traditional well control equipment testing often depends on manual interpretation, delayed reporting, and limited visibility into early degradation trends.
In this analysis of MPD equipment failure, we examine how a major offshore operator used MPD control system data and IPT Global’s Equipment Health Monitoring solution to identify the deviation pattern that preceded a Slimline Annular (SLA) element failure. The analysis shows how automated MPD failure analysis and equipment health workflows can reveal early indicators of annular wear long before visible damage.
The operator experienced an unexpected failure of the Slimline Annular (SLA) element on the Integrated Rise Joint (IRJ) after less than two months of deployment and only 13 closures. During retrieval, the rig team discovered large pieces of degraded rubber in the trip tank and on top of the wear bushing.
The failure resulted in more than 250 hours of NPT. While the root cause was established through a lengthy investigation by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), the operator wanted to determine whether early indicators were present in the MPD control system data and if digital analysis could have detected the problem sooner.
This case raises two key questions for the operator:
Figure 1. IPT Global’s MPD Equipment Health Monitoring dashboard enabled the operator to analyze annular pressure response trends and identify early signs of Slimline Annular (SLA) element degradation ahead of failure.
During a technology review, the operator approached IPT Global to evaluate whether digital real-time and MPD integrity management analytics could better support early detection of equipment degradation. They tested whether IPT Global’s Equipment Health Monitoring HealthAnalytics module could analyze MPD control data without context, manual tagging, or event descriptions.
To create a blind test, the operator provided a set of sanitized CSV files from the Transocean drillship MPD system; the files contained only raw time-series data from the SLA subsystem. Using this data set, IPT Global evaluated whether HealthAnalytics could pinpoint the failure window and detect the signal patterns that occurred beforehand.
IPT Global prepared the files, reformatted them, and ingested them into the Equipment Health Monitoring system. This software uses model-driven workflows designed for well control equipment testing, MPD failure analysis, and condition-based monitoring. It evaluates pressure response, hydraulic behavior, and closure performance to identify changes that indicate abnormal equipment performance or early-stage degradation.
Within minutes of data ingestion, the system flagged unusual pressure and hydraulic patterns inconsistent with expected annular behavior. IPT Global engineers ran multiple analysis modes over the next 48 to 72 hours to validate the signal patterns. Ultimately, the results consistently pointed to the same failure window later confirmed by the operator and the OEM.
Key outcomes
The analysis identified a distinct deviation in the annular element’s pressure and hydraulic response with progressive wear. Importantly, this pattern was detectable days before the failure became visible.
“With IPT Global’s Equipment Health Monitoring, we saw in two days what took months to uncover,” said the operator’s Senior Advisor of Rig Systems. “That’s the kind of insight that changes how you think about equipment monitoring.”
Figure 2. IPT Global’s MPD integrity workflows support proactive, data-driven condition monitoring that reduces NPT and improves equipment assurance.
This case demonstrates how digital MPD integrity management testing can improve operational reliability and reduce NPT. By tracking baseline trends and small deviations, operators can detect MPD equipment wear early and improve maintenance and risk decisions.
IPT Global continues to expand its condition-based monitoring and predictive analytics for MPD systems, strengthening well control readiness, accelerating fault detection, and supporting a more proactive approach to equipment assurance.