Safe, Secure and Sustainable Oil and Gas Drilling, Exploitation and Pipeline Transport Offshore

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Ocean Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 45810

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Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Niš, 18000 Niš, Serbia
2. IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Centre, VŠB—Technical University of Ostrava, 70800 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Interests: hydraulics; flow-through pipelines, including treatment and transport; energy modeling; natural gas and hydrogen; energy policy with a focus on European energy security and offshore oil and gas safety
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Guest Editor
IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center, VŠB—Technical University of Ostrava, 70800 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Interests: reliability; risk analysis; energy security; information retrieval; industrial statistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Immediately after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010 in the United States waters on the Macondo prospect about 60 km offshore Texas coast, numerous worldwide efforts took place to increase overall safety level related offshore oil and gas operations. These have continued until today, with relevant changes and improvements in the offshore oil and gas sector mostly focusing on: 1) Regulations and regulatory authorities; 2) working groups and industrial associations; 3) safety technologies, focusing especially on the most relevant developments that have been introduced, particularly with respect to well integrity, blow out preventers (BOP), and capping and containment devices; 4) technical and operational standards; and 5) risk management practices, especially concerning the management of human and organizational factors which greatly contribute to the occurrence of major accidents in the offshore oil and gas sector. This Special Issue is not focused only on safety in offshore oil and gas operations, but all onshore efforts are also acknowledged. All methods, computational procedures, innovations, and technologies, which can increase the production rate, safety of pipelines, usability, and efficiency are within the scope of this call for papers. So are all aspects related to the production of oil and gas and drilling, both offshore and onshore, as well as those related to an increased degree of utilization and efficiency of drilling, all safety aspects, and all aspects of security of supply. Contributions from academia, standardization and regulatory bodies, manufacturers of equipment, service and exploitation companies, and from all other types of industry are welcome.

Dr. Dejan Brkić
Dr. Pavel Praks
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Offshore and onshore drilling
  • Oil and gas offshore and offshore exploitation
  • Safety legislation and risk assessment
  • Safety
  • well control
  • mobile offshore units for drilling, offshore rigs for exploitation
  • Security of oil and gas supply including pipeline transport offshore and onshore
  • Blow out preventers (BOP) and capping and containment devices
  • Working groups and Industrial associations for oil and gas
  • Regulations and regulatory authorities in petroleum sector
  • Technical standards for petroleum industry, offshore pipelines

Published Papers (14 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 174 KiB  
Editorial
Safe, Secure and Sustainable Oil and Gas Drilling, Exploitation and Pipeline Transport Offshore
by Dejan Brkić and Pavel Praks
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(4), 404; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9040404 - 10 Apr 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1450
Abstract
The Special Issue “Safe, Secure and Sustainable Oil and Gas Drilling, Exploitation and Pipeline Transport Offshore” was focused on regulations, including technical and operational standards, safety technologies, and organizational factors, which can greatly contribute to the occurrence of accidents in the offshore oil [...] Read more.
The Special Issue “Safe, Secure and Sustainable Oil and Gas Drilling, Exploitation and Pipeline Transport Offshore” was focused on regulations, including technical and operational standards, safety technologies, and organizational factors, which can greatly contribute to the occurrence of accidents in the offshore oil and gas sector [...] Full article

Research

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18 pages, 410 KiB  
Article
Preventive Maintenance of a k-out-of-n System with Applications in Subsea Pipeline Monitoring
by Vladimir Rykov, Olga Kochueva and Mais Farkhadov
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(1), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9010085 - 15 Jan 2021
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2412
Abstract
Environmental safety issues are of particular importance when we design and operate underwater transport systems. To ensure the transport systems function safely, special systems to monitor their condition are being created. Underwater pipeline monitoring systems should continuously operate to detect and prevent emergency [...] Read more.
Environmental safety issues are of particular importance when we design and operate underwater transport systems. To ensure the transport systems function safely, special systems to monitor their condition are being created. Underwater pipeline monitoring systems should continuously operate to detect and prevent emergency and pre-emergency situations in a timely manner. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the possibility of using a mathematical model of a k-out-of-n system to support decision-making in the preventive maintenance of an unmanned underwater vehicle to monitor the condition of a subsea pipeline. The novelty and feature of this study are that we investigate a strategy of preventive maintenance for a model of a k-out-of-n system, where failures depend not only on the number but also on the location of the failed components in the system. The method to solve this problem, based on the distribution of the members of the variational series of the failing components, is also new. Since the distributions of the system component lifetimes are usually known with an accuracy of only one or two moments, we paid special attention to how sensitive the decision making about preventive maintenance is to the shape of the distributions. Numerical examples are conducted in order to support the theoretical investigations of the paper. The results of the study are applied to specific equipment to monitor the state of the outer surface of the pipeline. Full article
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12 pages, 16207 KiB  
Article
Underwater Pipeline Oil Spill Detection Based on Structure of Root and Branch Cells
by Huajun Song, Jie Song and Peng Ren
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(12), 1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121016 - 11 Dec 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2527
Abstract
The existing oil spill detection methods mainly rely on physical sensors or numerical models cannot locate the spill position accurately and in time. To solve this problem, combining with underwater image processing technology, an unsupervised detection algorithm for oil spill in underwater pipelines [...] Read more.
The existing oil spill detection methods mainly rely on physical sensors or numerical models cannot locate the spill position accurately and in time. To solve this problem, combining with underwater image processing technology, an unsupervised detection algorithm for oil spill in underwater pipelines is proposed for the first time. First, the oil spill region to be detected is regarded as the moving target, and the foreground detection algorithm is applied to the processed images. Then, the HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) color space of the image is used to screen the oil spill region meeting the threshold requirements. Next, the bitwise of foreground mask and HSV mask into cells are divided. Finally, according to the characteristics of the oil spill image, false detection is eliminated by classifying cells three times. After qualitative and quantitative analysis, it is proved that the proposed algorithm can detect oil spill region accurately. Full article
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16 pages, 562 KiB  
Article
Investigations of the Potential Application of k-out-of-n Systems in Oil and Gas Industry Objects
by Vladimir V. Rykov, Mikhail G. Sukharev and Victor Yu. Itkin
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(11), 928; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110928 - 16 Nov 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2007
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate the possibilities of assessing the reliability of oil and gas industry structures with the help of mathematical models of k-out-of-n systems. We show how the reliability of various structures in the oil and [...] Read more.
The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate the possibilities of assessing the reliability of oil and gas industry structures with the help of mathematical models of k-out-of-n systems. We show how the reliability of various structures in the oil and gas complex can be described and investigated using k-out-of-n models. Because the initial information about the life and repair time of components of systems is only usually known on the scale of one and/or two moments, we focus on the problem of the sensitivity analysis of the system reliability indices to the shape of its components repair time distributions. To address this problem, we used the so-called markovization method, based on the introduction of supplementary variables, to model the system behavior with the help of the two-dimensional Markov process with discrete-continuous states. On the basis of the forward Kolmogorov equations for the time-dependent process’ state probabilities, relevant balance equations for the process’ stationary probabilities are presented. Using these equations, stationary probabilities and some reliability indices for two examples from the oil and gas industry were calculated and their sensitivity to the system component’s repair time distributions was analyzed. Calculations show that under “rare” component failures, most system reliability indices become practically insensitive to the shape of the components repair time distributions. Full article
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10 pages, 1458 KiB  
Article
Vibration Control of Marine Top Tensioned Riser with a Single Tuned Mass Damper
by Jixiang Song, Tao Wang, Weimin Chen, Shuangxi Guo and Dingbang Yan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(10), 785; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8100785 - 09 Oct 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1967
Abstract
The study of the Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) on Top Tensioned Risers (TTRs) through the application of numerical analysis is of great significance for marine engineering. However, to the best knowledge of the author, neither the in-field riser data nor the ocean current [...] Read more.
The study of the Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) on Top Tensioned Risers (TTRs) through the application of numerical analysis is of great significance for marine engineering. However, to the best knowledge of the author, neither the in-field riser data nor the ocean current data used in published papers were from engineering design, so the research results provide limited guidance to the actual engineering project. In view of this problem, this study designed a single TMD to suppress the vibration of the engineering TTR under the action of the actual ocean current. First, the dynamic model of a riser-TMD system was established, and the modal superposition method was used to calculate the model. The non-resonant modal method of the flexible structure was used to design the TMD parameters for the engineering riser. Ocean current loading in the South China Sea was then applied to the riser. The vibration of the riser without and with TMD was compared. The result showed that TMD could effectively reduce the vibration response of the riser. When compared without TMD, the maximum value of displacement envelope and the RMS displacement were reduced by 26.70% and 17.83% in the in-line direction, respectively. Moreover, compared to without TMD, the maximum value of displacement envelope and RMS displacement were decreased by 17.01% and 22.05% in the cross-flow direction, respectively. In the in-line direction, the installation position of TMD on the riser was not sensitive to the effect of the displacement response; meanwhile, in the cross-flow direction the installation position of TMD on the riser was more sensitive to the effect of the displacement response. Full article
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21 pages, 8377 KiB  
Article
Investigation of the Structural Strength of Existing Blast Walls in Well-Test Areas on Drillships
by Byeongkwon Jung, Jeong Hwan Kim and Jung Kwan Seo
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(8), 583; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8080583 - 04 Aug 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5038
Abstract
Blast walls are installed on the topside of offshore structures to reduce the damage from fire and explosion accidents. The blast walls on production platforms such as floating production storage, offloading, and floating production units undergo fire and explosion risk analysis, but information [...] Read more.
Blast walls are installed on the topside of offshore structures to reduce the damage from fire and explosion accidents. The blast walls on production platforms such as floating production storage, offloading, and floating production units undergo fire and explosion risk analysis, but information about blast walls on the well-test area of drillship topsides is insufficient even though well tests are performed 30 to 45 times per year. Moreover, current industrial practices of design method are used as simplified elastically design approaches. Therefore, this study investigates the strength characteristic of blast wall on drillship based on the blast load profile from fire and explosion risk analysis results, as well as the ability of the current design scantling of the blast wall to endure the blast pressure during the well test. The maximum plastic strain of the FE results occurs at the bottom connection between the vertical girder and the blast wall plate. Based on the results, several alternative design applications are suggested to reduce the fabrication cost of a blast wall such as differences of stiffened plated structure and corrugated panels, possibility of changing material (mild steel), and reduced plate thickness for application in current industrial practices. Full article
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12 pages, 7022 KiB  
Article
Anti-Explosion Performance of Composite Blast Wall with an Auxetic Re-Entrant Honeycomb Core for Offshore Platforms
by Fang Luo, Shilian Zhang and Deqing Yang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(3), 182; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8030182 - 07 Mar 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4034
Abstract
To improve the anti-explosion performance of blast wall in offshore platforms, an auxetic re-entrant blast wall (ARBW) was proposed and designed based on the indentation resistance effect of an auxetic structure. Based on the numerical nonlinear dynamic analysis method verified by the explosion [...] Read more.
To improve the anti-explosion performance of blast wall in offshore platforms, an auxetic re-entrant blast wall (ARBW) was proposed and designed based on the indentation resistance effect of an auxetic structure. Based on the numerical nonlinear dynamic analysis method verified by the explosion experiment of a conventional steel corrugated blast wall (CBW), the failure mechanisms of ARBW, steel honeycomb sandwich blast wall (HSBW) and CBW were investigated under distributed impulse loads. Computational results demonstrated the excellent anti-explosion performance of the proposed ARBW design. Concerning the minimal deformation at the mid-point of the proposed protective structures, the ARBW performed best. As regards the minimal deformation at the connection, both ARBW and HSBW worked well. The stress distribution of the connection illustrated the different energy absorption and transmission modes of the three blast walls. Full article
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22 pages, 4842 KiB  
Article
Numerical Investigation into Freak Wave Effects on Deepwater Pipeline Installation
by Pu Xu, Zhixin Du and Shunfeng Gong
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(2), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8020119 - 14 Feb 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3500
Abstract
Freak waves are an extreme marine environment factor in offshore structure design and become a potential risk, particularly for laying oil-gas pipelines in deep waters. The objective of this study was to reveal the freak wave effects on dynamic behaviors of offshore pipelines [...] Read more.
Freak waves are an extreme marine environment factor in offshore structure design and become a potential risk, particularly for laying oil-gas pipelines in deep waters. The objective of this study was to reveal the freak wave effects on dynamic behaviors of offshore pipelines for deepwater installation. Thus, a dedicated finite element model (FEM) for deepwater pipeline installation by the S-lay method was developed with special consideration of freak waves. The FEM also took pipelay vessel motions, pipe–stinger roller interactions, and the cyclic contacts between the pipeline and seabed soil into account. Real vessel and stinger data from an actual engineering project in the South China Sea were collected to obtain an accurate simulation. Moreover, an effective superposition approach of combined transient wave trains and random wave trains was introduced, and various types of freak wave trains were simulated. Extensive numerical analyses of a 12 inch gas pipeline being installed into a water depth of 1500 m were implemented under various freak wave conditions. The noticeable influences of freak waves on the pipeline and seabed responses were identified, which provides significant awareness of offshore pipelines for deepwater installation design and field operation monitoring. Full article
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24 pages, 22115 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Numerical Model Investigations of the Underwater Towing of a Subsea Module
by Yingfei Zan, Ruinan Guo, Lihao Yuan and Zhaohui Wu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(11), 384; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7110384 - 29 Oct 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2880
Abstract
In underwater towing operations, the drag force and vertical offset angle of towropes are important considerations when choosing and setting up towing equipment. The aim of this paper is to study the variation in drag force, vertical offset angle, resistance, and attitude for [...] Read more.
In underwater towing operations, the drag force and vertical offset angle of towropes are important considerations when choosing and setting up towing equipment. The aim of this paper is to study the variation in drag force, vertical offset angle, resistance, and attitude for towing operations with a view to optimizing these operations. An underwater experiment was conducted using a 1:8 scale physical model of a subsea module. A comprehensive series of viscous Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out based on Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations for uniform velocity towing. The results of the simulation were compared with experimental data and showed good agreement. Numerical results of the vorticity field and streamlines at the towing speeds were presented to analyze the distribution of vortexes and flow patterns. The resistance components were analyzed based on the numerical result. It was found that the lateral direction was a better direction for towing operations because of the smaller drag force, resistance, and offset angle. Similar patterns and locations of streamlines and vortexes were present in both the longitudinal and lateral directions, the total resistance coefficient decreases at a Reynolds number greater than that of a cylinder. Full article
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24 pages, 7190 KiB  
Article
Numerical Study on the Natural Convection of Air in a Cubic Cavity Subjected to a Yawing Motion
by Guojun Yu, Lizhi Zhang, Sheng Jia, Yanting Geng and Jie Liu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(7), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7070204 - 01 Jul 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2772
Abstract
Natural convections subjected to multi-Degree of Freedom (DoF) motion are much more complex than those in static case, and those subjected to yawing motion are the simplest and ideal case for investigating their characteristics due to less interactive parameters. In this paper, the [...] Read more.
Natural convections subjected to multi-Degree of Freedom (DoF) motion are much more complex than those in static case, and those subjected to yawing motion are the simplest and ideal case for investigating their characteristics due to less interactive parameters. In this paper, the characteristic of natural convection under yawing motion was studied systematically to clarify the interaction between yawing motion and thermal-dynamic behavior. First of all, the mathematical model was established in a non-inertial coordinate system, and the dimensionless governing equations were derived. Subsequently, the governing equations were discretized in the framework of the finite volume method, and a computer code was developed and validated. After that, the natural convection under yawing motion was calculated with different combinations of dimensionless parameters, and the influence of rotation frequency and amplitude on heat and mass transfer was investigated. It was found that the yawing motion plays a notable role in flow and heat transfer, depending on the relative magnitudes of rotation-induced velocity and buoyancy-induced velocity: At a lower Rayleigh number of 104, the Nusselt number on hot boundary is enhanced by approximately 25% when the rotation period is changed from 12 s to 2 s; while the changing in rotation period from 12 s to 2 s did not induce obvious difference in hot-boundary Nusselt number for a higher Rayleigh number of 105. It is concluded that the vertical-axis harmonic rotation enhances heat transfer if the rotation-induced velocity dominates the flow. The clarification of natural convection characteristic in yawing motion provides convenience for analyzing that in other multi-DoF systems. Full article
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19 pages, 4804 KiB  
Article
Numerical Investigation into the Two-Phase Convective Heat Transfer within the Hold of an Oil Tanker Subjected to a Rolling Motion
by Guojun Yu, Sheng Jia and Yanting Geng
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7040094 - 03 Apr 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2470
Abstract
A crude oil tanker usually encounters a rolling motion during sea transportation, which leads to rotational movement and sometimes a sloshing of the liquid hold. This rolling-induced body motion seriously affects the thermal and hydraulic behavior of the liquid hold, which then affects [...] Read more.
A crude oil tanker usually encounters a rolling motion during sea transportation, which leads to rotational movement and sometimes a sloshing of the liquid hold. This rolling-induced body motion seriously affects the thermal and hydraulic behavior of the liquid hold, which then affects the heating process and heat preservation of the tanker. Clarification of the involved thermal and hydraulic characteristics is the basic requirement for establishment of a scientific heating scheme and heat preservation method. A two-phase 3D model considering the free liquid surface and non-Newtonian behavior of the fluid was established for the thermal calculation of the liquid holds in oil tankers. The thermal and hydraulic characteristics of the liquid hold were investigated under different combinations of dimensionless parameters, and the combined effect of rolling and fluid non-Newtonian behavior was investigated. It was found that rolling intensifies the heat transfer based on the combination of the Richardson number ( R i ) and the rotation-strength number ( ω * ), and non-Newtonian behavior of the fluid effectively affects the heat transfer in a rolling motion. This research is expected to provide a reference for design and optimization of the heating and heat preservation method for oil tanker operation. Full article
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Review

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21 pages, 2142 KiB  
Review
Kalman Filters for Leak Diagnosis in Pipelines: Brief History and Future Research
by Lizeth Torres, Javier Jiménez-Cabas, Omar González, Lázaro Molina and Francisco-Ronay López-Estrada
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(3), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8030173 - 05 Mar 2020
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3817
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide a structural review of the progress made on the detection and localization of leaks in pipelines by using approaches based on the Kalman filter. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first [...] Read more.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a structural review of the progress made on the detection and localization of leaks in pipelines by using approaches based on the Kalman filter. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first review on the topic. In particular, it is the first to try to draw the attention of the leak detection community to the important contributions that use the Kalman filter as the core of a computational pipeline monitoring system. Without being exhaustive, the paper gathers the results from different research groups such that these are presented in a unified fashion. For this reason, a classification of the current approaches based on the Kalman filter is proposed. For each of the existing approaches within this classification, the basic concepts, theoretical results, and relations with the other procedures are discussed in detail. The review starts with a short summary of essential ideas about state observers. Then, a brief history of the use of the Kalman filter for diagnosing leaks is described by mentioning the most outstanding approaches. At last, brief discussions of some emerging research problems, such as the leak detection in pipelines transporting heavy oils; the main challenges; and some open issues are addressed. Full article
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Other

11 pages, 5100 KiB  
Technical Note
Offshore Oil and Gas Safety: Protection against Explosions
by Dejan Brkić and Zoran Stajić
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(3), 331; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9030331 - 16 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5005
Abstract
Offshore oil and gas operations carry a high risk of explosions, which can be efficiently prevented in many cases. The two most used approaches for prevention are: (1) the “International Electrotechnical Commission System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in [...] Read more.
Offshore oil and gas operations carry a high risk of explosions, which can be efficiently prevented in many cases. The two most used approaches for prevention are: (1) the “International Electrotechnical Commission System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Explosive Atmospheres” (IECEx) and (2) European “Atmosphere Explosible” (ATEX) schemes. The main shortcoming for the IECEx scheme is in the fact that it does not cover nonelectrical equipment, while for the ATEX scheme, it is due to the allowed self-certification for a certain category of equipment in areas with a low probability of explosions, as well as the fact that it explicitly excludes mobile offshore drilling units from its scope. An advantage of the IECEx scheme is that it is prescribed by the US Coast Guard for protection against explosions on foreign mobile offshore drilling units, which intend to work on the US continental shelf but have never operated there before, with an additional requirement that the certificates should be obtained through a US-based Certified Body (ExCB). Therefore, to avoid bureaucratic obstacles and to be allowed to operate with minimized additional costs both in the US and the EU/EEA’s offshore jurisdictions (and very possibly worldwide), all mobile offshore drilling units should be certified preferably as required by the US Coast Guard. Full article
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11 pages, 577 KiB  
Technical Note
Proper Use of Technical Standards in Offshore Petroleum Industry
by Dejan Brkić and Pavel Praks
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(8), 555; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8080555 - 24 Jul 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3721
Abstract
Ships for drilling need to operate in the territorial waters of many different countries which can have different technical standards and procedures. For example, the European Union and European Economic Area EU/EEA product safety directives exclude from their scope drilling ships and related [...] Read more.
Ships for drilling need to operate in the territorial waters of many different countries which can have different technical standards and procedures. For example, the European Union and European Economic Area EU/EEA product safety directives exclude from their scope drilling ships and related equipment onboard. On the other hand, the EU/EEA offshore safety directive requires the application of all the best technical standards that are used worldwide in the oil and gas industry. Consequently, it is not easy to select the most appropriate technical standards that increase the overall level of safety and environmental protection whilst avoiding the costs of additional certifications. We will show how some technical standards and procedures, which are recognized worldwide by the petroleum industry, can be accepted by various standardization bodies, and how they can fulfil the essential health and safety requirements of certain directives. Emphasis will be placed on the prevention of fire and explosion, on the safe use of equipment under pressure, and on the protection of personnel who work with machinery. Additionally considered is how the proper use of adequate procedures available at the time would have prevented three large scale offshore petroleum accidents: the Macondo Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; the Montara in the Timor Sea in 2009; the Piper Alpha in the North Sea in 1988. Full article
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