Disconnectable Transfer Systems (DTS) are crucial for the safe transfer of fluids in offshore locations, argues Ian Latimer, technical director at FES International.
A year has passed since we saw the devastating Deepwater Horizon spill bring a temporary halt to all oil drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as the industry begins to restart drilling operations in the region, we are left wondering whether we are better prepared in the event of another spill.
In March 2011 The American Petroleum Institute, part of the US Oil Industry Association, launched a new safety body to set and monitor standards for offshore drilling. This news comes after the announcement that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has issued the first deepwater Gulf permit to Noble Energy since the disaster.
While it is encouraging that drilling is set to resume in the Gulf, there is still a pressing issue that needs to be addressed. At high risk of suffering extreme weather conditions, such as tropical storms and hurricanes, the threat to rigs and oil drilling in the area remains a real concern.
With the majority of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico conducted from fixed platforms, damage in the event of bad weather or on-site emergencies such as fire, has a significant impact on operators and investor as any downtime that ensues means commercial loss. If damage leads to a spill the environmental and political repercussions can be vast and potentially cripple a company’s corporate reputation.
One way to reduce the amount of damage that could occur is for oil companies to move away from fixed platform operations, choosing instead to use dynamically positioned Floating Production Units (FPUs) or Floating Production Storage and Offloading units (FPSOs) with fully disconnectable transfer systems.
In the event of an oncoming storm, the design allows quick disconnection of the vessel from the risers so that the well can be closed off at speed and the FPU can leave its location returning when the weather has settled. Controlled disconnects such as these take around four to five hours as flow lines are flushed and the buoy is lowered for safety. In an emergency, where an immediate response is needed, like the Macondo spill, the DTS can be quickly disconnected within minutes, isolating the flowlines, with no spillage of hydrocarbons into the surrounding waters.
This article was taken from the latest copy of Offshore Technology,(OT) April 2011 - to read the rest of this article or if you would like to subscribe to this publication, please contact Lorraine Jordan at lorraine.jordan@imarest.org, or telephone 0207 382 2606