Publications

Number, size and arrangement of offshore oil and gas production platforms need to be optimised in relation to environment requirements and expected production.Such optimisation asks for risk and benefit assessments. There is a need to be more confident about knowing the risks in order to prevent and control the consequences of massive hydrocarbon release. This calls for a systematic approach to safety and environment protection in the design engineering.The method proposed provides qualitative and quantitative data which serve as a basis for the reaching of decisions on the design of an offshore oil and gas production complex.Specific assessments would be made at each development phase: preliminary studies, basic and detail engineering, providing main guidelines for safety and environment programmes applied in engineering, construction, startup and production phases.Typical steps to take for such an approach would be:- integration of the installation into its natural environment and surrounding human activities.- systematic layout design to accommodate living quarters, utilities and process area in relation to hazards.- evaluation of fire and explosion effects in terms of probability of occurrence and scale of consequences, with a view to determining the safety distances or passive protections to be set up around each hazardous area of generating equipment.- specification of the hazard control equipment and emergency response procedures.