Innovative inspection techniques for ultra deepwater drillships and other floating O&G production assets saving costs, enhancing safety, while assuring operational availability and asset integrity
Peter Davies A C and Danny Constantinis BA Regional General Manager Asia Pacific, EM&I, C/o C2-11-1 St Mary Residences, No 1 Jalan Tengah, Kuala Lumpur, 50250, Malaysia.
B Chairman and CEO, EM&I, Pembroke House, 3 Altrincham Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5ND, UK.
C Corresponding author. Email: peter.davies@emialliance.com
The APPEA Journal 57(2) 599-602 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ16012
Accepted: 18 April 2017 Published: 29 May 2017
Abstract
The Hull Inspection Techniques and Strategy (HITS) Joint Industry Project (JIP), a subgroup of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Research Forum, called for new methods to be developed that enhance safety, reduce costs and support the assurance of integrated asset management. Hull integrity is critical to enhancing safety and operational effectiveness for production operations, particularly for high-value assets. Good hull integrity requires accurate, relevant hull-inspection data of the internal structure, isolation valves, moonpools, external appendages and positioning systems.
Current methods use divers or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs); this often disrupts drilling operations and, in the case of divers, is a high but managed risk. HITS JIP called for methods to minimise diver and man intervention in confined spaces. This has now been achieved on several assets while on station, operational and on-hire by an innovative method of conducting inspections from within the hull and using advanced techniques to inspect critical isolation valves, moonpool high-stress areas, thrusters and hull appendages.
Aligning internal and external structural inspections optimises operational availability further and is achieved by means of class-approved ‘long-term inspection plans’ that align the ‘underwater’ scope with other hull inspections and spreads the work over several 5-year cycles. As well as safety enhancements, benefits include over 70% persons on board (POB) reduction on diver under water inspection in lieu of drydocking (UWILD) operations, minimising downtime and operational impact, and high-value inspection data. Further advances in hull inspection have also been proven that eliminate man entry of confined spaces for inspection of ballast and other tanks.
Keywords: classifications, FPSO, drillships, HITS JIP, innovation, hull integrity, POB, ROV, tank inspection, underwater inspection in lieu of drydocking.
Peter Davies is the Regional General Manager, Asia Pacific for the EM&I Group. He has a Masters qualification in Business Management, and his experience is built on 27 years in the British Army, transferring to the commercial world and emigrating to Australia in 2008. His commercial experience is in Leadership, Management and Engineering Consultancy. He is responsible for the growth and delivery of EM&l capability in Asia Pacific, which includes China to the north, to New Zealand in the South and India to the Gulf States in the west. |
Danny Constantinis is the Group Chairman and CEO of EM&I. He has an extensive track record in the Oil and Gas and Petrochemical Industry with more than 35 years of experience. He has a particular expertise in the integrity, inspection and safety aspects of fixed and floating assets and has been involved with the development of this aspect of the industry for over 25 years. He has proactively worked with floating production operators and owners, regulators and trade organisations to develop innovative methodologies to support integrity management of these assets. He has over 10 patents for innovative inspection, integrity engineering and safety devices. |
