ISO 13628-1:2005 provides general requirements and overall recommendations for development of complete subsea production systems, from the design phase to decommissioning and abandonment. ISO 13628-1:2005 is intended as an umbrella document to govern other parts of ISO 13628 dealing with more detailed requirements for the subsystems which typically form part of a subsea production system. However, in some areas (e.g. system design, structures, manifolds, lifting devices, and colour and marking) more detailed requirements are included herein, as these subjects are not covered in a subsystem standard.

The complete subsea production system comprises several subsystems necessary to produce hydrocarbons from one or more subsea wells and transfer them to a given processing facility located offshore (fixed, floating or subsea) or onshore, or to inject water/ gas through subsea wells. ISO 13628-1:2005 and its related subsystem standards apply as far as the interface limits described in Clause 4.

Specialized equipment, such as split trees and trees and manifolds in atmospheric chambers, are not specifically discussed because of their limited use. However, the information presented is applicable to those types of equipment.