SUMMARY
Enterprises around of the world are striving to understand and ensure that risks in utilities they govern are effectively managed while they must satisfy all expectations of their stakeholders. For this purpose there are now organisms and standardized management systems to manage financial risks, environmental hazards, industrial safety and occupational health risk. However, operational and reliability risks in the business lack an equivalent oversight body or an organizing framework through which enterprises can asses such risks , or define standards to which can be held accountable.The emergent understanding of asset management across all industry sectors has triggered a subsequent need for a standardized approach. This article identifies the key elements of asset management process and explains the benefits of the application of its elements with reference to two specific cases: the Barrancabermeja Refinery of Ecopetrol S.A. and Sumicol S.A.