Designing out fabric maintenance on a new offshore development using safety principles
James McKechnie A *A Woodside Energy Ltd, Perth, WA, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 63 83-89 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22271
Submitted: 20 December 2022 Accepted: 2 March 2023 Published: 11 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
Most individuals would love to own a car or boat that required little or no maintenance. Woodside is desirous of the same for the 50 000 t Scarborough floating production unit (FPU) located 450 km offshore. This would be beneficial, not just from a cost perspective but also for all the additional benefits associated, such as safety and hazard risk reduction. Woodside's Australian operations typically spend >$300M annually on inspection and maintenance of their assets to maintain them in a safe operating condition. The cost of maintenance at operating offshore facilities is approximately 100 times that of onshore fabrication, with these costs particularly high due to the complexities of conducting maintenance on live hazardous plant. For example, reactive offshore coating maintenance offshore costs ~$3000/m2, preventative offshore coating maintenance ~$1000/m2 and onshore steel fabricator/blast and painting ~$30/m2. To achieve the goal of minimal maintenance, Woodside have been applying a hierarchy of control principles to the Scarborough FPU. This has delivered the following outcomes. (1) Elimination of steel, using fibre-reinforced plastics, which has replaced 10 000 m2 of walkway gratings and stair treads and 3.5 km of handrails. (2) Substitution of steel using corrosion-resistant alloys for pressure equipment, with a reduction in maintenance, chemicals and inspection. (3) Substitution of coated tertiary structural steel with uncoated stainless steels. (4) Specification of higher integrity coatings (glass-fibre reinforced epoxies). (5) Providing additional dedicated resources for assurance during construction that these new controls are implemented correctly. (6) Providing dedicated inspection locations for remote internal inspection to preclude human entry.
Keywords: coatings, cost reduction, engineering controls, fabric maintenance, fibre-reinforced plastic, inspection, life cycle cost, safety, stainless steel, thermally sprayed coatings.
James McKechnie MSC CEng MIMM, MIWeld. Principal Materials Inspection and Corrosion Engineer and Technical Authority – Woodside Energy. Responsibility for integrity management for the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Facilities, company engineering standards, technical direction and oversight in materials, fabrication and corrosion management for all assets and developments. James has 30+ years of oil and gas industry experience in offshore metallurgy, materials selection, corrosion control, welding and inspection, working within operator and contractor organisations; acting on multiple occasions as materials corrosion and fabrication technical authority. James developed his broad technical knowledge from maintenance of established offshore platforms such as BP Forties, to the design and development of the latest Australian subsea developments. James has worked on several mega-projects in senior engineering roles including BP Azeri Project, Kashagan Project with AgipKCO, and Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone Projects. |
References
ASTM (2018) Standard Specification for Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Gratings Used in Marine Construction and Shipbuilding. ASTM F3059-18. (ASTM International)Energy Institute (2022) ‘Guideline for the management of coatings for external corrosion protection.’ 2nd edn. (Energy Institute, London, UK)
