Winterization Needs for Platforms Operating in Low Temperature Environment

According to a common belief which is shared by a lot of specialists from different areas petroleum business goes far into the offshore. One of the most promising regions of hydrocarbon production in the nearest future is stated to be Arctic region. But this surprisingly rich region is also happens to be one of the toughest and challenging areas to operate. Due to extremely cold air temperatures, strong winds, presence of ice and other harsh physical and climatic conditions safety requirements and technological demands call for new conceptual solutions for constructions that are panned to be used in Arctic. For exploration and production facilities in the cold climate the following aspects are essential: personnel and environment safety, as well as uninterrupted fail-safe technological process. In cold climates the main concern goes to low ambient air temperatures and presence/accretion of ice. Cold temperatures affect both personnel and equipment on the platform. To protect platform from influence of cold temperatures special heated covers can be used. This solution has certain concerns with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and energy supply systems. Yet another way here might be partial cover of equipment with special shelters and climatic modifications. Ice is considered to be the second limiting factor: sea ice that requires ICE CLASS vessels or specially designed platforms (not to mention ice bergs) and icing that endangers all unprotected systems on the platform. To deal with these threats different strategies might be used but there is still no one answer. Every case is some kind of unique when speaking about Arctic constructions. Ice-induced vibrations observed on platforms in the Bohay bay that haven’t been studied or even considered is a good example. Winterization for platforms is not fully developed yet and requires deeper research. The paper anticipates different codes and standards for offshore oil and gas facilities to be designed to operate in low temperature environments (American Bureau of Shipping ABS, Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Det Norske Veritas DNV, International Organization for Standardization ISO, Canadian Standards Association CSA). These rules are compared against the experience of several major oil and gas operators and service companies gained during studies of conceptual design for Arctic exploration and production constructions at pre-FEED and FEED stages. The most important winterization concerns are highlighted and scrutinized.