When an aging oil tanker is converted into a floating production facility, unexpected challenges may arise when designing, installing, and maintaining topside process facilities.
The oil and gas and marine industries have differing design practices, design codes, quality standards, and maintenance philosophies. These differences can result in underlying integrity issues for which there is little significant industry guidance or experience available. Using a converted tanker in a regular, more frequent loading and offloading cycle than was originally intended can introduce structural integrity issues to the process and marine piping systems as well. Infrastructure of varying age coupled with topside modules and piping systems designed according to fixed platform design code and experience also add to the integrity management challenges for such assets. When adopting risk-based integrity management on floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) process systems, these challenges can affect risk-based inspection methodology selection, the level to which it can be practicably applied, and failure mode determination.
This paper describes Hess Corporation's (Hess) processes, practices, and risk application in the development of an integrity management system (IMS) for an aging FPSO topside located in West Africa.
Hess is an exploration and production company that operates both floating and fixed offshore assets in the North Sea, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. Hess assumed operation of the Sendje Ceiba FPSO facility in 2006 to support the depletion of the Ceiba and Okume fields, located in Block G of the Rio Muni Basin, Equatorial Guinea, West Africa.
Hess' corporate integrity philosophy has evolved from US PSM regulation and ASME/API practices, UK safety case and performance standard culture, and the experience gained from operating and maintaining assets in various theaters throughout the world.
