RISK-BASED MANAGEMENT OF STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY FOR BASS STRAIT PLATFORMS

Abstract

Esso Australia Pty Ltd (Esso) has embraced the framework of risk management to improve the focus and priorities of its inspection and maintenance activities. Structural integrity is one of the disciplines that has adopted a risk-based approach to inspection and integrity assessment and this has been applied to Esso/BHP’s 18 offshore platforms located in Bass Strait.

The paper provides a discussion of the issues faced in the management of structural integrity of offshore platforms which lead to the development of a risk-based inspection (RBI) strategy. RBI is applied to improve the prediction of the structures’ condition and provides a consistent basis for continued improvement in the future. The RBI model generates targeted inspection workscopes for each platform that, coupled with the implementation of appropriate inspection techniques, ensure that the integrity of the platforms can be managed with greater confidence and at lower cost.

The RBI approach has resulted in reduced focus on traditional areas of uncertainty such as fatigue of tubular joints, and increased focus on secondary structures, for example service caissons. This shift in focus is made possible by building into the risk model a calibration process that considers previous inspection data. A key component of this calibration is a new method developed to calibrate tubular joint fatigue lives.