Inherent Safety in Offshore Drilling Operations

Abstract

Inherent safety (IS) is a proactive approach for safety management during process plant design and operation. It has been proven that, considering the lifetime costs of a process and its operation, an inherently safer approach is an environmentally friendly and cost-optimal option. IS can be incorporated at any stage of design and operation. However, application of IS is highly effective at the early design stage. In this work, incorporation of IS in designing offshore oil and gas (O&G) drilling operations is successfully done to achieve risk reduction. Some of offshore hazards/concerns including highly flammable substances, possible harsh weather conditions, toxic gas i.e. hydrogen sulphide and congested platforms and rigs layout are challenging to overcome especially during emergency responses. Based on this knowledge, we intend to exploit the versatility of the principles of IS for the purpose of achieving risk reduction in relation to offshore O&G drilling operations. As for hazard identification, HAZID is chosen while relevant IS principles – “substitution”, “moderation” and “simplification” are recommended for risk reduction efforts.