Total Isolation from Lightning Influences

Lightning has been a major cause of equipment losses and operational downtime for just about every branch of the petroleum industry. Losses in equipment have exceeded $100 000; production losses have ranged up to several months where equipment was hard to come by and/or the supply lines were long. The loss character in many cases has been difficult to explain and in some cases has gone unexplained. As a result when failures have appeared in the new electronic systems technicians have tended to attribute any loss to lightning if another cause could not be found. The lightning problem for the petroleum industry, definitions of the loss causes, and loss prevention techniques that can and are being guaranteed to provide total isolation from lightning created losses will be presented. Many of the available forms of lightning protection marketed today are designed to meet standards that often are not related to contemporary hazards. These hazards are defined in a comprehensive manner and a ``system´´ solution that will assure total isolation is presented.