Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations Options for Implementation (2013) / Chapter Skim
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2 Processes for Identifying Technologies
2 Processes for Identifying Technologies
Pages 15-26
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From page 15... ...
As technologies mature, the industry deploys novel technology into production, creating an inherent "push" dynamic of new candidate technologies, including those that enhance safety. The industry trend to pursue exploration and production activities in deeper waters can be tracked in overall oil and gas production statistics.
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From page 16... ...
As illustrated by the previous two examples, many R&D efforts that provide BAST candidates are initially primarily motivated by productivity gains.4 Active efforts by the industry in the OCS have triggered increased spending on technologies and approaches that could be candidate technologies or systems for BAST. Since the Macondo well blowout, the industry has increased its focus on safety-enhancing R&D.
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From page 17... ...
A company's general practices represent a summary of the company's best and safest well-specific or broadly applicable technologies and systems that are considered field-proven.6 ExxonMobil estimates that 10 to 15 percent of these practices involve BAST-related technologies.7 Government-sponsored R&D, including government-reimbursed R&D and government-sponsored small-company targeted R&D, is not prevalent within industry. BSEE, via its Technology Assessment and Research (TA&R)
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From page 18... ...
Nearly a decade later, a joint DOE–private industry venture completed the first multistage fracking job in a horizontal well. Joint industry funding through the Gas Research Institute led to completion of the first successful wells in the Texas Barnett Shale, which after several years of further development led to the first commercial production and the "gas boom" that followed.
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From page 19... ...
. TECHNOLOGY PULL After most major offshore incidents, such as the losses of the Piper Alpha and the Deepwater Horizon (Macondo well)
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From page 20... ...
The facts concerning offshore disasters and accident statistics support the idea of paying closer attention to organizational and human performance factors as essential in the effective implementation of the BAST regulatory oversight, rulemaking, and approval processes. Such consideration would also help achieve the objectives of BSEE's Safety and Environmental Management Systems regulations to manage the overall safety and environmental aspects in offshore oil and gas operations.18 Areas of Human Factors Concern First, it is believed that the offshore oil and gas industry will experience substantial growth in the application of remote sensing and control systems used to observe well conditions.
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From page 21... ...
are increasingly used to reduce operator workload and to improve task efficiency. The introduction of high levels of automation historically has led to some operator complacency (because of the assumption, based on the high reliability typically observed in automation, that the automation is working as intended, when it sometimes does not)
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From page 22... ...
The following are some of the main hazards and risks that should be addressed: Unintended release of hydrocarbons, Loss of well control, Failure of a safety-critical element, Vessel collisions or near collisions, Helicopter misses and crashes, Fatal accident or serious injury, Evacuation of personnel in response to non-weather-related events, Release of hazardous materials beyond some specified de minimis level, and Damage to the environment apparent in the short term. The authors identified common sources of worldwide data available now.
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From page 23... ...
In this example, images and detailed characterization of the hydrocarbon flow at the seabed level join traditional discrete-data-emitting temperature and pressure sensors. Remote monitoring and capturing of housekeeping data enable probability modeling to improve estimates of mean time between failures of safety-critical equipment.23 Similarly, new sources of subsea telemetry enable better at-seabed, closed-loop processing, which allows faster-acting pressure control equipment to increase safety through an enhanced seabed infrastructure.24 These can serve as sources of BAST candidates.
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From page 24... ...
New data sources offer the ability to grow data sets significantly and potentially provide additional quantitative sources to enhance risk assessments. Normalized and aggregated cross-industry data would provide empirical and quantitative inputs critical to the development of better baselines for in-use BAST.
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From page 25... ...
Mining and offshore drilling face many similar challenges, including uncertainties in geology, highly capable pumping technologies, and gas detection equipment.29 Other adjacent industries focused on inspection technologies and software could also help in better utilization of new data sources discussed previously and require further investigation through a BSEE-led process of rigorous discovery. The committee notes that there are significant challenges in adapting technologies from adjacent industries.
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From page 26... ...
For example, BSEE could engage in multiparty collaborations and could focus TA&R efforts on basic and forward-looking collaborative R&D initiatives, where limited funds can provide better leverage. As discussed in the next chapter, better exploitation of these sources of ideas and technologies demands significant additional BSEE resources (including in-house technical domain and program management and personnel training)
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