Montara: broader implications

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 721
Author(s):  
Jane Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Inherent Safety ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Safety Critical ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Fail Safe ◽  
Economic Future

After almost two years, the implications of the Montara incident and the more recent Macondo disaster are still evolving. Failure of safety critical barriers led to the Montara blowout and spill. Why did these barriers fail and what are the associated lessons for operators, regulators and governments? There are parallels with the Macondo Incident in the Gulf of Mexico and while many of the insights are particular to drilling, there are others that are applicable to other activities in the oil and gas industry. While the deepest impacts of the Macondo disaster are felt by the families and friends of those who were killed and injured, the broader implications affect the oil and gas industry itself, other industries that expect to co-exist with the petroleum industry, governments and communities, and all those—employees and investors—whose economic future is linked with the industry. Questions we should all be asking include: Is a particular operator competent enough to prevent problems? Can they afford to pay should things go wrong? Are today’s facilities being designed and built to maximise inherent safety ? Do they automatically fail safe when things go wrong ? Have we set up our regulators for success?

Applied Mechanics Problems in the Oil and Gas Industry

1986 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1687-1696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Roegiers
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Production Equipment ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Well Production ◽  
Current Research Activity

The petroleum industry offers a broad spectrum of problems that falls within the domain of expertise of mechanical engineers. These problems range from the design of well production equipment to the evaluation of formation responses to production and stimulation. This paper briefly describes various aspects and related difficulties with which the oil industry has to deal, from the time the well is spudded until the field is abandoned. It attempts to delineate the problems, to outline the approaches presently used, and to discuss areas where additional research is needed. Areas of current research activity also are described; whenever appropriate, typical or pertinent case histories are used to illustrate a point.

A Comprehensive Review of the Fourth Industrial Revolution IR 4.0 in Oil and Gas Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cenk Temizel ◽  
Celal Hakan Canbaz ◽  
Hakki Aydin ◽  
Bahar F. Hosgor ◽  
Deniz Yagmur Kayhan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Use

Abstract Digital transformation is one of the most discussed themes across the globe. The disruptive potential arising from the joint deployment of IoT, robotics, AI and other advanced technologies is projected to be over $300 trillion over the next decade. With the advances and implementation of these technologies, they have become more widely-used in all aspects of oil and gas industry in several processes. Yet, as it is a relatively new area in petroleum industry with promising features, the industry overall is still trying to adapt to IR 4.0. This paper examines the value that Industry 4.0 brings to the oil and gas upstream industry. It delineates key Industry 4.0 solutions and analyzes their impact within this segment. A comprehensive literature review has been carried out to investigate the IR 4.0 concept's development from the beginning, the technologies it utilizes, types of technologies transferred from other industries with a longer history of use, robustness and applicability of these methods in oil and gas industry under current conditions and the incremental benefits they provide depending on the type of the field are addressed. Real field applications are illustrated with applications indifferent parts of the world with challenges, advantages and drawbacks discussed and summarized that lead to conclusions on the criteria of application of machine learning technologies.

scholarly journals Characterization of fatal injuries in oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, 2004–2014

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Yeoman ◽  
Mary B. O’Connor ◽  
Sara Sochor ◽  
Gerald Poplin
Keyword(s):  
Lower Extremity ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Body Region ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Body Regions ◽  
Safety Features

Abstract Background Transportation events are the most common cause of offshore fatalities in the oil and gas industry, of which helicopter accidents comprise the majority. Little is known about injury distributions in civilian helicopter crashes, and knowledge of injury distributions could focus research and recommendations for enhanced injury prevention and post-crash survival. This study describes the distribution of injuries among fatalities in Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents, provides a detailed injury classification to identify potential areas of enhanced safety design, and describes relevant safety features for mitigation of common injuries. Methods Decedents of accidents during 2004–2014 were identified, and autopsy reports were requested from responsible jurisdictions. Documented injuries were coded using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), and frequency and proportion of injuries by AIS body region and severity were calculated. Injuries were categorized into detailed body regions to target areas for prevention. Results A total of 35 autopsies were coded, with 568 injuries documented. Of these, 23.4% were lower extremity, 22.0% were thorax, 13.6% were upper extremity, and 13.4% were face injuries. Minor injuries were most prevalent in the face, neck, upper and lower extremities, and abdomen. Serious or worse injuries were most prevalent in the thorax (53.6%), spine (50.0%), head (41.7%), and external/other regions (75.0%). The most frequent injuries by detailed body regions were thoracic organ (23.0%), thoracic skeletal (13.3%), abdominal organ (9.6%), and leg injuries (7.4%). Drowning occurred in 13 (37.1%) of victims, and drowning victims had a higher proportion of moderate brain injuries (7.8%) and lower number of documented injuries (3.8) compared with non-drowning victims (2.9 and 9.4%, respectively). Conclusions Knowledge of injury distributions focuses and prioritizes the need for additional safety features not routinely used in helicopters. The most frequent injuries occurred in the thorax and lower extremity regions. Future research requires improved and expanded data, including collection of detailed data to allow characterization of both injury mechanism and distribution. Improved safety systems including airbags and helmets should be implemented and evaluated for their impact on injuries and fatalities.

BIOCHEMICAL AND CHEMICAL PARAMETERS FOR AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM HEALTH ASSESSMENTS ADAPTED TO THE AUSTRALIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 584 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Gagnon ◽  
K. Grice ◽  
R.I. Kagi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Biochemical Markers ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Chemical Markers ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Chemical Measurements ◽  
The Impact

Field assessments using biochemical and chemical markers in marine organisms will be necessary to provide the Australian Petroleum Industry with a realistic evaluation of the impact of their activities on the marine environment. In field investigations, wild or caged animals are sacrificed and their organs are collected in order to assess if industrial activities do have a significant adverse impact on the organisms' health. Biochemical markers of chronic exposure to contamination may include reversible effects such as induction of a detoxification system, or permanent effects such as damage to nuclear DN A. Studies of sentinel species using biochemical markers of exposure, complemented by chemical analyses provide a realistic holistic method for assessment of environmental health. This multidisciplinary approach has proven valuable in Europe and North America.This paper outlines the need for biochemical and chemical markers to assess environmental health in a dynamic milieu such as the North West Shelf of Australia. Selected biochemical markers for use by the oil and gas industry in field monitoring of ecological health, and the complementary chemical measurements focussed on persistent contaminants such as poly eye lie aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are described. The biological and ecotoxicological significance of the biochemical markers applied in sentinel marine organisms is reviewed, and some limitations regarding their interpretation are stated. It is suggested that biochemical monitoring of the environment complemented with sophisticated chemical measurements can provide environmental managers working within the oil and gas industry with a system for ecotoxicological monitoring programs in offshore Australia.

Revisiting the FPSO São Mateus Accident From a Human Reliability Perspective Using Phoenix HRA Methodology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilia A. Ramos ◽  
Alex Almeida ◽  
Marcelo R. Martins
Keyword(s):  
Human Error ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Risk Estimation ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Human Reliability ◽  
Human Reliability Analysis ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Gas Industry

Abstract Several incidents in the offshore oil and gas industry have human errors among core events in incident sequence. Nonetheless, human error probabilities are frequently neglected by offshore risk estimation. Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) allows human failures to be assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In the petroleum industry, HRA is usually applied using generic methods developed for other types of operation. Yet, those may not sufficiently represent the particularities of the oil and gas industry. Phoenix is a model-based HRA method, designed to address limitations of other HRA methods. Its qualitative framework consists of three layers of analysis composed by a Crew Response Tree, a human response model, and a causal model. This paper applies a version of Phoenix, the Phoenix for Petroleum Refining Operations (Phoenix-PRO), to perform a qualitative assessment of human errors in the CDSM explosion. The CDSM was a FPSO designed to produce natural gas and oil to Petrobras in Brazil. On 2015 an explosion occurred leading to nine fatalities. Analyses of this accident have indicated a strong contribution of human errors. In addition to the application of the method, this paper discusses its suitability for offshore operations HRA analyses.

scholarly journals Multiphase Flow Effects in a Horizontal Oil and Gas Separator

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Frank ◽  
Robin Kamenicky ◽  
Dimitris Drikakis ◽  
Lee Thomas ◽  
Hans Ledin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Fluid Mixture ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Liquid Phases ◽  
Industry Applications ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽  
Gas Separator ◽  
Flow Effects

An oil and gas separator is a device used in the petroleum industry to separate a fluid mixture into its gaseous and liquid phases. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study aiming to identify key design features for optimising the performance of the device, is presented. A multiphase turbulent model is employed to simulate the flow through the separator and identify flow patterns that can impinge on or improve its performance. To verify our assumptions, we consider three different geometries. Recommendations for the design of more cost- and energy-effective separators, are provided. The results are also relevant to broader oil and gas industry applications, as well as applications involving stratified flows through channels.

The challenge of building effective hybrid organizations in Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. de Britto Pires ◽  
F. Lima Cruz Teixeira ◽  
H.N. Hastenreiter Filho ◽  
S.R. Góes Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Collaborative Activities ◽  
Design Customization ◽  
Market Relations

Since 1996, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras, the biggest oil company in Latin America, has been supporting a programme for the design, customization, and implementation of tri-lateral collaborative arrangements called the Centres and Networks of Excellence (CNE) Programme, in areas which are critical to the company's competitiveness. This programme is aligned with the Open Innovation proposal, as it is designed to intensify the inflows and outflows of information and technology, from internal and external sources, in the RD&I activities of the participating organizations. This article presents qualitative research based on the case study of the Centre of Excellence (CE) in Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), a hybrid organization which brings together oil companies, EPC companies, universities and technical schools, government entities, professional associations and industry bodies, in an effort to make the Brazilian EPC sector related to the oil and gas industry sustainable and competitive worldwide. The principal objective was to investigate the governance elements and managerial mechanisms that support or hinder collaboration among the parties. The work included the identification of collaborative activities within the organization and aspects of trust. Qualitative data was collected by means of in-depth interviews with staff and executive members of the CE-EPC. The case study highlighted the potential of the method to help set up hybrid collaborative initiatives among parties from different institutional spheres. However, the research identified some barriers to the full accomplishment of CNE. A weak culture of collaboration was the greatest difficulty found in the CE-EPC case. The lack of positive previous cooperation experiences together with a lifelong practice of market relations make it hard to get members to focus attention on a new work logic. Yet, despite the high asymmetry among members and the weak network culture, the results indicate that the CE-EPC has accomplished significant positive results in twenty months of operation and that its internal environment is supportive and favours the improvement and consolidation of the organization.

scholarly journals Method for Estimating the Performance of Enterprise Architecture Implementation in an Upstream Petroleum Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1868-1874
Keyword(s):  
Enterprise Architecture ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Combined Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
System Usability Scale ◽  
System Usability ◽  
Industry Needs

Global oil prices have encouraged the development of the oil and gas industry. The passion for the revival of the oil and gas industry needs to be followed by solid steps. Efficiency is a theme in all business aspects. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is believed to be able to help realize the achievement of the company's goal. But EA implementation is challenging. The company must provide sufficient resources to ensure the EA implementation goal is achieved. It is therefore necessary to estimate the EA implementation to detect any gaps. This research offers a method to estimate the EA in the upstream petroleum industry. The method is a combined approach of Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and structured interviews. Interviews were conducted with a modified System Usability Scale (SUS) using the perspective of effectiveness, efficiency, agility, and durability. The evaluation results concluded that the EA implementation was still below the usability threshold. This fact encourages further EA development efforts, including the selection and utilization of specific and simple EA components.

Experiment-Scale Multi-Vessel Dynamic Positioning System for the Twin-Lift Decommissioning Operation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenqiu Fu ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Hao Sun ◽  
Meng Yuan ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Main Process ◽  
Dynamic Positioning ◽  
Positioning System ◽  
Scaled Model ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Dynamic Positioning System ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Set Up

Abstract In general, the lifetime of the offshore oil and gas platform is about 20–30 years, and a large number of oil and gas platforms is approaching the end of their service. So, how to decommission these oil and gas platforms safely and cleanly becomes an urgent problem for the oil and gas industry and related organizations. And the costs for decommissioning equipment and services are expected to be as low as possible. It is important to develop the innovative removal techniques to reduce the overall cost of decommissioning. In this paper, we propose a new concept to remove large and heavy structures with a single lift, utilizing three semi-submerged vessels. The main process of the twin-lift solution for decommissioning includes two semi-submerged vessels lifting the topside together, and then carrying the topside to the third semi-submerged vessel. This method is simple in principle and does not require the manufacture of new special vessels, only needs to make simple modifications to existing semi-submerged vessels. It requires high positioning accuracy especially under environmental disturbances to ensure the safety of transportation. To ensure efficiency and safety, we develop a dynamic positioning (DP) system and perform a wave tank test for such a twin-lift decommissioning solution. Some aspects of an experimental facility set-up for scaled model test with dynamic positioning system are described. It includes the topology of the experiment and details of the deck mating, DP and monitoring system.

OVERVIEW AND REVIEW OF THE COMMONWEALTH ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 1999

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 669 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Heiden
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Environment Protection ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Strategic Assessment ◽  
Referral Form ◽  
High Level

This paper provides a brief overview of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) and discusses the operational performance of the Act in the first 18 months.The introduction of the Act on 16 July 2000 has created a new environmental assessment and approval regime at the Commonwealth level. Proposals are no longer referred for assessment on the basis of government decisions, but on the basis of the potential for a proposal to impact upon a matter of National Environmental Significance (NES). An analysis of projects that have been referred, assessed and approved provides a useful guide to the types of activities, and the circumstances under which proposals are captured by the Act. This exercise is particularly valuable for the oil and gas sector.With a significant proportion of referrals received being generated by the petroleum industry, many issues with the administration of the Act have been identified. Environment Australia has undertaken a number of initiatives to address these concerns. Examples include involvement in the Strategic Assessment being conducted by the Department of Industry Tourism and Resources (DITR), a review of the Referral form and an undertaking to provide a more industry-specific form, and regular, high level meetings between Environment Australia, the DITR and APPEA to facilitate and streamline the working arrangements between parties.The paper also identifies areas where industry can work closely with the Commonwealth Government in new ways to achieve a balance between environmental protection and the continued development of the oil and gas industry.

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