Feature 1 | RuleS and RegulaTIOn
ensure high safety levels when implementing offshore projects and RS continuously works to improve its regulatory and technical basis. RS has developed the Rules for Oil-and-Gas Equipment of Floating Offshore Oil-and- Gas Production Units, Mobile Offshore Drilling Units and Fixed Offshore Platforms. Te requirements of the Rules have been developed upon the results of RS research work and apply to the oil-and-gas equipment installed on floating or fixed offshore oil-and-gas structures. The Rules apply during the design, manufacture, operation and confirmation of compliance of FPU/ MODU/FOP with regard to the set level of oil-and-gas equipment safety, prevention of environmental pollution when performing operations on drilling, production, gathering, treatment and transportation of well fluids, as well as assessment of risks of the relevant critical events. Te Rules may be used by all the organisations and manufacturers, whose activities are associated with the FPU/MODU/FOP design and construction, exploration, construction and development of hydrocarbon fields on the continental shelf. The Rules have been received favourably by the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision of the RF (Rostekhnadzor). The Rules give much attention to the
safety assessment of offshore development facilities. RS has developed regulations on risk analysis and assessment, selecting the risk control and management alternatives, as well as the evaluation and assessment of the
efficiency of decisions on risk level reduction. “When clarifying the basic principles of accident review, we have always emphasised that the accident review in itself would not ensure proper safety level. It is a component of an integrated safety assessment system. Labour protection, education and training of personnel, accident-related measures are also an integral part of this system,” Nikolay Reshetov, RS Director General noted. Risk analysis for an accident is to be effected at all stages: pre-design work, design and operation of floating offshore oil and gas production units intended for production, gathering, treatment, storage and transportation of well fluids, MODU and FOP of different purpose. In this case all design operation modes are to be considered: standard and non-standard, emergency and extreme. Analysis covers hazard identification
and prior quantitative and qualitative risk assessment – the consideration of the adverse accident effects upon personnel, population, property and environment, the results of which are used when analysing the acceptability of suggested solutions and selecting the optimum alternatives of technical devices and equipment arrangement, including the arrangement of the items and cost efficiency. Offshore oil and gas facilities are not
only MODU and FOP, but also important structures as such as subsea pipelines, which are also high-risk facilities. Te RS performs survey of such constructions and has developed Rules for the Classification and Construction of Subsea Pipelines, in force
nikolay Reshetov, director general of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (Credit: Russian Maritime Register of Shipping).
since 1 October 2009, that cover all technical aspects of the design and construction of subsea pipelines. The Rules are based on the “acceptable risk” concept realising the principle “to foresee and to prevent”.
Classification and survey
The world’s northernmost Arctic oil offloading terminal has been constructed to RS classification. The fixed offshore ice-resistant offloading terminal (FOIROT) Varandey in the Barents Sea, being a part of Varandey offloading terminal system, provides year-round oil delivery from the oil fields under exploration in Timano-Pechora oil and gas reservoir. FOIROT Varandey is equipped with the process piping system, oil tanker charging equipment, life support infrastructure, other engineering systems and is intended for the year-round offloading of 12 million tonnes of oil. Up to 70,000dwt tankers can moor to the FOIROT Varandey. Specialised tankers designed for operation in the harsh Arctic conditions have been constructed to support the year-round operation of the Varandey terminal and oil transportation. RS performs survey over the Varandey
terminal transport infrastructure incorporating a series of ice class shuttle tankers, icebreaker Varandey and the supply vessel Toboy. The const ruct ion of fixed
ice-resistant platforms (processing and accommodation) and the subsea pipeline for the Korchagin oil field in the northern part of the Caspian Sea has been completed under the RS survey. An offshore drilling complex has been
converted under RS survey intended for exploration drilling on the shelf of the northern part of the Caspian Sea. Semisubmersible MODUs for Shtokman
gas condensate field, the fixed offshore ice-resistant platform Prirazlomnaya for Prirazlomnoye field development, the self-elevating drilling unit Arkticheskaya for the exploration drilling on the Arctic shelf are all under construction under RS classification. Te high qualification of its specialists
and experience gained, as well as continuous updating of its rules enable RS to provide adequate safety levels for offshore development projects. OMT
24 Offshore Marine Technology 2nd Quarter 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44