High-Performance Bolting Technology for Offshore Oil and Natural Gas Operations (2018) / Chapter Skim
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1 The Challenges of Subsea Fastener Reliability Improvement
1 The Challenges of Subsea Fastener Reliability Improvement
Pages 15-22
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From page 15... ...
To date, even though there have been fasteners failures, (a summary of recent failures is compiled in Appendix E) , and near miss failures, no major oil spills have resulted; the overall bolting failure rate is estimated to be in the range of 10−4 to 10−5 based on the total reported failures divided by the number of all fasteners employed in subsea service.1 This "service record" is highly incomplete as there is no industry wide program to find bolts that are failing, or have failed and are just held in place by gravity.
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From page 16... ...
The overall strategy recommended in this report is one of risk management by continued improvement based on analyzing field conditions and fastener performance, and then acting on the results, such as devising roadmaps to conduct and implement research and development in areas that have the potential to improve the reliability of bolts, enhance the safety culture throughout the entire oil and gas industry, increase human factor performance, and institute wide-spread communication of best practices related to bolts throughout the industry, including its supply chain. IMPORTANCE OF FASTENERS A significant amount of crude oil lies under the continental shelf of the United States.
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From page 17... ...
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimated undiscovered technically recoverable resources (UTRR) in OCS to be 90 billion barrels (1.4 × 1010 m3)
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From page 18... ...
Due to concern about the pos sibility of oil spills, state and federal governments have passed numerous laws restricting oil exploration.8,9 Examples of recent laws passed by Congress include: • Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, 1972, which prohibits oil and gas drilling in designated sanctuaries. • North Carolina Outer Banks Protection Act, 1990, which prohibits oil exploration offshore from North Carolina • Energy Policy Act of 2005 which prohibits drilling on the Great Lakes • Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 which bans leasing of tracts for oil exploration until 2022 of portions of the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico.
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From page 19... ...
. warned subsea oil drillers and equipment makers that bolt failures in the Gulf of Mexico could result in an oil spill on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster."15 Thus, even with a low failure probably, the risk of failure for a least a subset of subsea connectors could be significant.
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From page 20... ...
Even a poorly designed or manufactured fastener can provide decades of trouble free service if the in-service stresses are relatively low; conversely even a well-designed and properly manufactured fastener can suddenly fail if actual environmental conditions move outside the range anticipated by the design, manufacturing and installation, such as excessive cathodic protection voltage potential. Qualitatively, to a first order, the risk associated with a pressure boundary con nector failure is proportional to its distance from the well head.
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From page 21... ...
REPORT CHAPTERS AND APPENDIXES The remainder of this report reviews the critical aspects of fastener design and demonstrated in-service performance, discusses various strategies to further reduce fastener failures, and concludes with potential new approaches to address fastener design and regulatory strategies. Taken together, these recommendations could be used to construct an industry-government action roadmap, aimed at improving fastener reliability for the most critical subsea applications.
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From page 22... ...
• Chapter 3, "Options for Improving Bolting Reliability," discusses existing fastener standards and specifications and quality assurance options, and presents options for improving government oversight of the fastener lifecycle. • Chapter 4, "Safety Culture and Human Systems Integration," describes how human factors can significantly impact the safety culture in preventing fastener failures.
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