Safety Challenges in the Arctic

Transcription

1 Safety Challenges in the Arctic International Conference on Integrated Operations in the Petroleum Industry Trondheim, Børre Johan Paaske, DNV GL

2 Agenda Defining the Arctic Safety and environmental risk drivers Opportunities for Integrated Operations in the Arctic Photo: US Navy 2

3 The Arctic - A region of opportunity and interest Growing economic interest Large resources oil and gas, minerals, fisheries USGS estimated that the Arctic may contain 13% of the world s undiscovered oil (90 billion barrels of oil) and 30% of its undiscovered gas (1670 trillion cubic feet) Rystad energy projection (2013): The Arctic provides 3% of global petroleum in 2020, 9% in 2035 Shell drilled first offshore well in Arctic Alaska in 1963 Norwegian oil industry moving northwards (Snøhvit, Goliat, Johan Castberg), 72 of 86 blocks in 22 licensing round in the Barents Sea Russia mobilises, new LNG transportation deal between Atomflot and Novatek, new nuclear icebreakers under construction, new tax breaks for offshore Arctic Rosneft, Lukoil, Novatek, Gazprom all active in Russian and Norwegian Arctic Majors such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Statoil, Conoco, Total gear up for Arctic competition Global market conditions of 2013 challenge Arctic oil and gas Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world - retreating ice cap and warmer waters.

4 The Arctic environment Wind Waves Current No additional challenges compared to NCS Temperature Visibility Marine icing Atmospheric icing Precipitation Polar lows Sea ice and icebergs Sensitive environment Caution: Variations are great arctic is not uniform Remoteness and lack of infrastructure Combination of loads Uncertainty in data

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6 Current and future activities Subsistence living Fisheries Maritime transport Petroleum (onshore and offshore) Tourism Extractive industries Research 6

7 Some accident experience from Arctic From DNVs World Offshore Accident Database the following accidents have been found: - Drilling unit Kulluk ran aground off Sitkalidak island in the Gulf of Alaska. It was being towed to its winter home in Seattle when it encountered a storm, and broke loose m3 hydraulic oil spilled from the Eirik Raude drilling rig, leak in hydraulic tube, SW Barents Sea, Drill ship broke loose under towing in heavy arctic seas. Ran aground on a sandbank. Alaska, Helicopter crashed into sea ice, partly due to ice fog that reduced visibility and hence visual control with rig lights. Canada, The crew overflowed a slop tank aboard the platform, and 4620 gallons (17 m3) of crude oil spilled onto moving ice patches. Cleaning operations was impossible due to the low temperatures and ice, Damage to two anchorlines and one anchorwinch due to heavy weather. Canada, Ice breaker had stopped due to heavy ice. The rig ran into its stern. Canada, Drill ships forepeak shell plating was set in due to heavy ice, and ruptured below main sheer, Canada/Beafourt Sea, The rig was hit by ice floe causing 3 anchor cables to break and damage to anchor winch. Repaired. No further information available. 24 Det Norske Veritas AS. All Slide 7

8 Arctic factors influencing safety and major hazard risk Cold and harsh climate require protection of personnel and process equipment by enclosing the process areas. Low temperature - affects material properties and operational characteristics of equipment, process fluids and utility fluids etc. - cause a need for additional heating and mechanical ventilation. Snow, slush, fog and icing may affect the safety barriers, and reduce their functionality and availability. Sevan Hummingbird, North Sea Remote location for offshore activities in the Arctic, long periods of darkness, and cold climate cause evacuation and rescue operations to be challenging and time consuming. Sea ice and impact on loss of stability Human performance in cold climate Very limited satellite communication capacity north of 75 O N, no geostationary satellite communication north of 81.3 O N Sevan Goliat, Barents Sea 8

9 What makes Arctic ecosystems special? Physical constraints (temperature, ice coverage, seasonality) Ice edge and polynyas 9

10 Arctic Species vulnerable and robust Slow growth-rate High lipid content, fat used as energy in times of low availability of food Specialized Travel huge distances to search for food and can gather in huge numbers to feed Breeding colonies, molting Pollution could influence large proportion of the population Pollution at other times will not have any effect ( animals are not there..) 10

11 IO in Arctic possible development phases t, development in Arctic Data collection and represenation Risk communication Common risk information Operational support Operational support Shared situational awareness in changing external conditions Several stakeholders operations and logistics Photo: Olga Bogdanova Data analysis, prediction Data collection Photo: Olga Bogdanova 11

12 Opportunities for integrated operations in the Arctic Scarce data on ice and metocean, and biology baseline Remoteness, e.g; - Situation management for emergency response - Support from expert teams - Remote sensing; detection and location of accidental spills to sea. Real time operational data, e.g: - Ice management; detection and tracking - Marine mammals observations - Weather windows and forecasts Cold climate operation - Remote operations to compensate for limitations of human capacity and performance in cold climate - Increased number of handover operations Cooperation between many stakeholders - Shared information of risk data among stakeholders - Shared situation awareness Met stations in the North Sea (upper) and the Barents Sea (lower). From website of US National Climatic Data Center 12

13 Safeguarding life, property and the environment 13