Cost-To-Benefit Analysis Of Management Strategies Of Offshore Structures For LNG And Oil Receiving Facilities

API is considering a full revamping of Falconara site offshore structures (consisting in a 1,3 km long jetty, an offshore island located 2 miles far from the coast and a single point mooring (SPM) platform 8 miles offshore) aimed at ensuring future smooth operation of the existing oil refinery, while developing the proposed project of a 4 billion cubic meter of gas per year (BCMY) LNG regasification terminal. In this frame, RINA has been given a contract for carrying out an extensive feasibility analysis, aimed at evaluating the potentials and the limits of the existing structures and assessing the benefits that might arise from their revamping, as well as from different management strategies that might be applied. The analysis has included various studies, such as meteo-marine study, ship handling simulations, sea-keeping study, mathematical simulation of logistic of the whole Falconara site and cost-to-benefit analysis (CBA) of the various design options. The paper outlines the challenges of the project and is focused on the way studies are linked to each other and provide inputs for the logistic simulation, which has been used as a tool for decision making. Great attention has been given to the model calibration phase, carried out comparing the values of various target functions against the real performances of the refinery, and which has taught some useful lessons