In the Gulf of Mexico, all platforms that are more than five years old have to undergo an assessment process to ensure they are within an acceptable risk level. This process has to start next month and be completed by November 2006.
The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) has taken action to initiate this assessment process and required further action to be taken by operators within this time frame.
DNV has recently carried out studies for major oil companies and developed risk-based inspection programmes for ranking all their fixed platforms and optimising the use of resources in maintaining and upgrading these platforms.
More than 4,000 fixed platforms are operating on the US shelf of the Gulf of Mexico alone. Almost 1,200 are more than 30 years old, and close to 400 of these have exceeded the 40-year mark. This is twice the original design life stipulated in early design practices, such as the API RP 2A 1st Edition.
New gas discoveries are to be developed in the near future – geologically deeper but geographically still in the same area as existing fields. Some of these fields are today produced by aging platforms. In such circumstances, there may be calls for the platform life of such aging installations to be extended even further.
There is no reason for well-maintained installations to be shut down. However, these installations have been exposed to corrosion, fatigue, hurricanes and other degradation mechanisms, and there is therefore a need to demonstrate that their current integrity has not been significantly impaired and that their ongoing reliability will be assured.
Consequently, there is a need for accurate assessment tools and expertise in order to demonstrate that the risk level is acceptable for the anticipated future years of operation.