Production • Processing • Handling
Fig. 2. The harsh winter weather in the Arctic continues to be the most dangerous and expensive place for oil and gas exploration.
Side by side mooring requires motion analysis of both ships. For both systems, the effect of unexpectedly deteriorating weather conditions such as sudden squalls needs to be accounted for when designing the ship to ship connections and developing procedures. Also, tug assistance may be required to support safe arrival and departure of shuttle tankers for both systems. Analysis and simulation of the moored shuttle tankers and of their manoeuvring at arrival and departure allow for risk mitigation to be put in place so that oil and gas companies feel comfortable, while minimising the risk of an unnecessary suspension of production. It’s important to note that the required marine transportation doesn’t stop at the FPSO. Organisations must also consider the shuttle tanker’s journey between the FPSO and the terminal or port where the discharging of oil and gas occurs. Operators want to know how many tankers they will need to guarantee production isn’t interrupted because of insufficient offloading capacity. Tis depends on the metocean conditions at the site of the FPSO, the terminal and the route between the two. Tis means that expected metocean conditions in a severe month have to be known. Te resulting delays can then be accounted for in the required fleet size estimations. Failure to account for weather conditions may result in underequipped shuttle tankers having too weak thrusters or insufficiently powered tugs at FPSO
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sites or at terminals. Tis in turn, could lead to the tankers having to abort berthing manoeuvres too frequently, thus increasing the downtime of operations and halting production at the FPSO site. Utilising an effective simulation tool such as BMT PC Rembrandt at the feasibility stage will allow the safety of arrivals and departures of manoeuvring shuttle tankers to be assessed depending on the environmental conditions and provide oil and gas majors with essential information on the operability of FPSOs and oil terminals. Supporting companies in the assessment of terminal navigational safety is key. By providing simulation technology the limiting conditions for manoeuvring at berths and the required tug power can be determined. Te design of port and terminal access channels also has an influence on vessel safety, terminal construction and maintenance costs and must therefore be, appropriately assessed. Optimising the design, operability and safety of the marine transportation within the feasibility stage can provide companies with a larger operational window, increasing production and throughput. Furthermore, understanding the motions and loads can lead to a reduction in maintenance costs. Such analyses can also provide reassurances for the wider community, critically the regulatory bodies and the Governments who will have the final say on whether or not companies can begin exploration in a particular region. l
Wojciech Misiag is a Naval architect at BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group, Marknesse, the Netherlands.
www.bmt.org
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