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Abstract:
Todays an offshore platform costs billions of dollar to prepare and operate which is one of
the costly affairs in the upstream oil sector. As the whole process has to deal with flammable
fluids which are very risky and a small hazard in this can cause a big hazard to the industry
in terms of money, human life, etc. This requires a detailed study of the possible hazards
exists on the offshore platform during the designing phase of them. In this paper an attempt
is made to review the possible hazards exists on an offshore platforms and also suggested the
safeguards to take proper action to minimize them. The HAZID technique which is used to
identify the possible existing hazards is discussed.
Introduction:
Since 1950s, chemical process safety is demanding advanced technology to mitigate the risks.
On the consequences of these risks, today safety is also become an important factor in
production. Now, it has developed into a scientific discipline that includes many highly
technical and complex theories and practices. Process safety emphasizes the use of
appropriate technological tools to provide information for making safety decisions with
respect to plant design and operation. Chemical process safety is referred with the help of
these Safety, hazard, and risk terms. Their definitions follow:
An oil field, especially offshore field, is by its nature very dangerous highly flammable fluids
under high pressure are being handled by large complex equipment in a hostile environment.
If anything went wrong there is a very high probability of losses in terms of money, death,
reputation, environment, etc. There is billions of dollars invested in the production of oil and
gas as reservoir, oil platform, wells, equipment, etc.
To protect this great investment of life and property, safety system have been developed and
incorporated to reduce the chances of mishap occurring phenomenon and minimize its effect.
Previous work:
*Corresponding author
Previous work done by Harstad has emphasized safety as an integral part of the various
stages of plant (platform) design. He has given several examples of this approach; however,
no systematic methodology or guidelines were proposed to conduct such integrated design
[1]. The work done by Medonos has put forward a methodology for integrated safety
engineering, which incorporates HAZOP and other risk assessment techniques in safety
assessment and development of an effective safety management [2]. But, Faisal I. Khan, Paul
R. Amyotte effort to present a detailed picture of the potential for inherent safety
considerations in offshore oil and gas activities [3]. While Henry Orbz emphasized his work
on identifying the various possible hazards exists in chemical industry and categorize them
in various level of severity [4].
Also Mamoun Naciri, Single Buoy Moorings Inc. and Leen Poldervaart, Single Buoy Moorings
Inc. carried out their work on modeling of LNG terminals and emphasized their design work
on the HAZID conclusion [5]. While, Kiho Moon, Seok-Ryong Song, Jorge Ballesio, Gary
Fitzgerald, Gregory Knight worked to identify potential gas release scenarios by conducting a
HAZID that focused on the novel features of the gas turbine propulsion system [6]. Also,
F.Faber, A.E.J.Bliault, L.R.Resweber P.S.Jones, summarises Shell's ongoing technology
developments aimed at practical, safe and economic floating production systems to deliver
oil/condensate and LNG from the same unit [7].
In this paper an attempt is made to review the possible hazards, which exists on an offshore
platform. This study also suggested the possible safeguards to adopt proper action for
minimizing relevant threats. Finally, HAZID study developed a HAZID worksheet, which helps
to identify major hazards on possible causes as well as its consequences with possible
safeguards.
Risk analysis is used for the assessment of the hazards in the association of process plant
and their storage installations. It can be assess by solving three questions.
The first and basic step of hazard identification (the first question) is purely qualitative and
is often called a safety study. Such a study may reveal aspects of the plant or installation
which require more consideration. It is then necessary to answer the next two questions in
order to complete the risk analysis. The results of the analysis are used for judgment about
the acceptability of the risk and for decision making. Qualitative answers are often given to
the second and third questions. However, recent developments have involved the application
of quantitative techniques for obtaining answers to these two questions. The use of these
techniques is termed as quantitative risk analysis (QRA). The whole exercise may be called
risk assessment.
In earlier years, many companies did not use quantitative techniques after the identification
stage. However, decisions were made and actions taken to control specific hazards
considering (qualitatively) probabilities and consequences. In a sense this is an elementary
form of risk analysis, but at a less sophisticated level than assessments involving quantitative
consideration of probabilities and consequences. However, over the years, the use of in-depth
risk assessment ranging from hazard identification to computation of individual and societal
risk has increased. Now the question arises related to abrupt behavior in the safety of an
offshore platform, which are follows as:
An act of God (hurricane, earthquake)
Sabotage
Human error
Nothing is completely safe in this world. No one will do everything ideal and every piece of
equipment will fail eventually one day. So the safety system must be built and operated to
reduce the hazards when failure occurs. Offshore oil and gas production also involves
traditional hazards with the potential of severe occupational accidents. There are risks of
dropped objects in heavy lifting and materials handling in connection with drilling,
maintenance and transportation of consumables. Operators work at height or between heavy
mobile objects in various drilling, inspection and maintenance operations. Adverse weather
conditions may increase the probability of serious accidents further.
HAZID
The Hazard Identification (HAZID) study is a tool for hazard identification, which is used early
in a project as soon as process flow diagrams, draft heat and mass balances, and plot layouts
are available. Existing site infrastructure, weather, and geotechnical data are also required,
these being a source of external hazards. The method is a designenabling tool, acting to help
organize the HSE deliverables in a project. The structured brainstorming technique typically
involves designer and client personnel engineering disciplines, project management,
commissioning and operations. The main major findings and hazard ratings help to deliver
HSE compliance, and form part of the project Risk Register required by many licensing
authorities.
A wellorganized HAZID study activity will deliver a good identification of hazards and
safeguards at an early stage in the design of a facility. The study output helps to ensure that:
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) hazards are revealed at an early stage in the
project, before significant costs have been incurred
Hazards are recorded and action are taken so that they can be avoided, mitigated or
highlighted during design
HAZID Worksheet:
This worksheet is prepared for possible hazards on an offshore platform. This study is
proposing for aforesaid context, with the help of relevance literature [8]-[13]. In this HAZID
worksheet, a detailed study is done by proposing possible threats, and their causes and
consequences. It helps to create possible safeguards for relevant threats.
References:
[1] Harstad, E., Safety as an integrated part of platform design, In Proceeding of 1st
International Conference on Health, Safety and Environment, Hague, Netherlands (1991).
[2] Medonos, S., Use of advanced methods in integrated safety engineering, Offshore
Mechanics and Arctic Engineering (OMAE) Conference, Houston, TX, (1994).
[3] Faisal I. Khan, Paul R. Amyotte, Inherent safety in offshore oil and gas activities: a review
of the present status and future directions, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process
Industries, Vol. 15 No.4, pp.279-89 (2002).
[4] H. Ozog, Hazard identification, analysis and control; Chemical Engineering (New York),
Volume 92 (18), p. 161 (1985)
[5] Mamoun Naciri, Single Buoy Moorings Inc. and Leen Poldervaart, Single Buoy Moorings
Inc., Design Aspects of SPM LNG Terminals in Shallow Water Offshore Technology
Conference, Houston, Texas, 3 May-6 May 2004, ISBN 978-1-55563-251-9
[6] Kiho Moon, Seok-Ryong Song, Jorge Ballesio, Gary Fitzgerald, Gregory Knight, Fire risk
assessment of gas turbine propulsion system for LNG carriers Journal of Loss Prevention in
the Process Industries, Volume 22, Issue 6, November 2009, Pages 908914
[7] F.Faber, A.E.J.Bliault, L.R.Resweber P.S.Jones, Floating LNG Solutions from the
Drawing Board to Reality, Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, Texas, 6 May-9 May
2002, ISBN 978-1-55563-249-6.
[8] Sinnott, R. K., Safety and loss prevention, in Chemical Engineering (by J. M. Coulson and
J. F. Richardson) (1983)
[9] Kavianian, H. R., Rao, J. K. and Brown, G. V., Application of Hazard Evaluation
Techniques to the Design of Potentially Hazardous Industrial Chemical Processes. (Div. of
Training and Manpower Devel., Nat Inst. Occup Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH). (1992)
[10] McCoy, S. A., Wakeman, S. J., Larkin, F. D., Chung, P. W. H., Rushton, A. G. and Lees,
F. P., HAZID, a computer aid for hazard identification: 2. Unit model system, Trans IChemE,
Part B, Proc Safe Env Prot, 77(B6): 328334.
[11] Rushton, A. G., Quality Assurance of Hazard and Operability Study Performance in the
Context of Offshore Safety. Report to HSE, Offshore Division1995,
[12] G.L. Wells, C.J. Seagrave, R.N.C. Whiteway; Flowsheeting for Safety, IChemE, London
(1977)
[13] H.G. Lawley; Operability studies and hazard analysis; Loss Prevention, vol.8 AIChE,
New York, pp. 105. (1974)