Norwegian Offshore Industry Research Articles

A Review and Analysis of Industrial Valve Material Failures Due to Corrosion and Proposals for Prevention Measures Based on Industrial Experiences in the Offshore Sector of the Oil and Gas Industry

Valve failure is a big risk and a costly phenomenon in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. It results in severe negative consequences such as loss of asset; loss of production due to plant shutdown; health, safety and environmental (HSE) issues such as hydrocarbon (oil and gas) spillage; environmental pollution; and sometimes loss of human life. Different types of valve failures have occurred in the Norwegian offshore industry for various reasons such as poor material selection, corrosion, mechanical failure of valve components due to high stresses and loads, lack of coating and lack of inspection. The aim of this paper is to review and critique some of the wrong material selection approaches for industrial valves in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry that lead to the corrosion and failure of valves, and to provide an appropriate material selection solution to mitigate these failures. Seven cases of material failures due to corrosion, including a valve gear box in coated cast iron, bolting made of low alloy steel with hot dip galvanized coating, a stem key made of a low alloy steel, stem material in 17-4 PH, spring material in Inconel X750, duplex, super duplex and hard nickel alloys in subsea as well as graphite packing in seawater, are reviewed, and preventive measures are proposed to avoid corrosion risk. In general, the use of carbon and low alloy steel for valves in the offshore environment should be limited and the use of corrosion-resistant alloys (CRAs) is proposed.

Survival in cold waters - learnings from participation in cold water exercises - a regulatory perspective related to the Norwegian offshore industry

Participation in exercises lead by the University of Stavanger, the SARex 1 in 2016 and SARex 2 in 2017, provided valuable lessons related to survival in a cold maritime environment. The scenario of the exercises was a mass evacuation from a stranded cruise ship in Arctic waters but provided experiences relevant beyond the cruise industry. This article focuses on the relevance for the oil and gas industry in the Norwegian sector. SARex 1 and 2 were rescue exercises carried out north of Spitzbergen by industry, regulators and academia during the spring of 2016 and 2017. The Norwegian Coast Guard, the University of Stavanger and GMC, Stavanger, organized the exercises. The Petroleum Safety Authority found it important to participate in SARex 1 and 2, to better understand the factors enabling success in a cold climate survival situation. The survival tests in lifeboats and life rafts during SARex 1 and 2 showed the necessity of having trained and competent leadership on board. This issue has perhaps been neglected, compared to the development of equipment to ensure successful evacuation and avoid hypothermia. Some key factors for survival success were (1) Functioning of emergency equipment (2) Organising and teaching the function of various items of safety equipment (3) Operating evacuation means at sea, e.g. watch routines, operating hatches/venting routines and (4) Activities and maintaining mental awareness and motivation. The overall learning from SARex 1 and 2 is that survival is dependent on active participation from the survivors. There is a need for sufficient competence amongst personnel to micro-manage all the details required for survival. The mental factors following fatigue and seasickness, in addition to hypothermia, make leadership and competence in a cold maritime climate essential for survival.

Applying Blockchain Technology: Evidence from Norwegian Companies

The aim of this study is to develop a theoretical framework for blockchain, operations in particular. Furthermore, we aim to identify the main drivers and barriers of digital innovation and explore the general possibilities of blockchain applications within the maritime industry. A case study approach is applied: the Norwegian offshore industry. Primary data is collected through interviews, while secondary data is collected from industrial and company reports, the Internet, and national and international media reports. We have discovered that cost reduction intentions, the high level of regulation in the maritime industry, and the large amount of data that maritime companies should process, along with the intention to work more effectively, are the main drivers of digital innovation. On the other hand, the high cost of implementation, the bad quality of Internet connections offshore, the old age of decision-makers, the technology-oriented culture, the lack of investment initiatives, the low level of blockchain diffusion through the supply chain, and risk aversion are the main barriers. The results of the qualitative study show that some of the barriers and motives of digital innovation and the introduction to blockchain technology were pointed out by earlier studies. However, we have identified several unique drivers and barriers specific to the industry. Finally, the blockchain process framework is developed.

Coastal Highway Route E39 – Extreme Crossings

Coastal Highway Route E39 goes all the way from outside Trondheim in the middle of Norway following the west-coast down to Kristiansand. To be totally correct the E39 continues after a ferry from Kristiansand in Norway to Hirtshals in Denmark to the city of Aahlborg in Denmark.The total length of E39 along the coast of Norway is 1100 km. Today you can drive this route in approximately 21 hours, including 7 Ferry crossings. The goal of the project “Coastal highway route E39” (also known as the “Ferry Free E39”) is to make it possible to drive the distance in 13 hours and have fixed links instead of the seven ferries.The seven fjords has a width of 1.6 to 5 km, and depth of 400–1300 m, which means that the fixed links will be bridges longer and deeper than ever before.By using technology from Norwegian off-shore industry, especially the floating concrete oil platforms, we see that it is possible to anchor a floating construction on depths up to 1500 meter below sea level (mbs). We also know that we can have floating constructions; both bridges and submerged floating bridges (tunnels) are possible.Norway already has the longest road tunnel in rock (Laerdal tunnel 24.5 km), the longest subsea tunnel (Bomlafjord 7.8 km, Ryfast 14 km under construction 2014–17, Rogfast 27 km under construction 2016-) and the deepest subsea tunnel (Eiksundtunnelen 7.77 km long, 287 mbs). The public road network in Norway consist of 92,000 km roads, 17,000 bridges in operation and 1100 road tunnels, 35 of which is subsea tunnels. Norway also has 600 harbours and 51 airports (2014).From Norwegian industry, and overseas, we have had suggestions on how to solve the crossings. Three main concepts have been taken a step further; The Floating Bridge, The submerged floating tunnel and The TLP anchoring system (Tension-leg platform).We are now working on developing the concepts, which can be used separately or in combination in the crossings. The technology is now taken to a step where we shortly are able to start tendering (“Competitive dialogue” is the most likely tender).Also in the “Coastal Highway Route E39” we have been looking at Tendering options, Energy production and consumption of the constructions and the overall economy in the project (both normal financial calculations, but also “game changer”-effects of bigger markets). 31 PhD graduates are connected to the project. At the same time the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) have ongoing research projects on materials, extreme weather, environment, energy, traffic safety, ITS and road technology in general.The presentation will focus on the newest developments in the extreme crossings, but also mention ongoing supplementary projects/PhD-studies at the time.

The impact of reputation and identity congruence on employer brand attractiveness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend research on employer branding in the recruitment context. The authors develop a model that integrates research from employer branding, social identity theory, and person-organization fit in order to investigate the impact of company reputation and identity congruency between organizations and their job applicants on the attractiveness of an employer brand. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted to test the theoretical model in a recruitment context in the Norwegian offshore industry. Structural equation modelling is employed in the data analysis. Findings – A key finding is that a company’s reputation and identity congruence between applicants’ self-identities and their perceived organization identity affect job applicants’ job pursuit intentions through mediation of cognitive social identity. Moreover, identity congruence predicts applicants’ cognitive identification with the company. Practical implications – The study suggests that managers should try to map and understand central characteristics that describe job applicants’ identities and strive to provide applicants with access to necessary information about the company to form cognitive identification with the company. Originality/value – The authors extend research on employer branding by incorporating social identity and attitude as mediators between symbolic and instrumental attributes of an employer brand and its attractiveness. This study also deepens research on social identity by including explicitly a comparison process between applicants’ self-identities and their perceived organizational identity, which leads to applicants’ identification with the company.

Towards autonomy in ROV operations

This paper presents an on-going research project focusing on the development of technology to enable autonomy in ROV operations. The project is a collaborative project between Norwegian offshore industry and academia. Currently, there is a large focus in research on the development of navigation, guidance and control for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). This is important as there will be a future demand for subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) operations with non-cabled systems. A future scenario is to have AUVs stationed on the seafloor in subsea garages. However, state of the art for IMR operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf is to apply vessel supported ROVs in IMR operations. Efficiency in such operations will imply large cost and time savings. Increased autonomy enables the ROV operator to shift from manual to automatic control utilizing autonomous functions for a number of specific tasks. The research project presented in this paper is novel and the goal is to improve the capabilities of the ROV leaving the operator mainly to supervise operation. The paper discusses different aspects of the technology requirements. This may be useful for researchers working in the area of AUV research, relating this research to industrial needs. The presented project will develop novel integrated sensor platforms with robust perception methods and collision-free motion planning algorithms for subsea inspection and light intervention operations. Moreover, the project will also focus on subsea factory design enabling autonomous operations. The results will be tested, verified and demonstrated in full-scale test beds, as well as at an offshore location.

Use of accident precursor event investigations in the understanding of major hazard risk potential in the Norwegian offshore industry

The recent offshore accidents at the Macondo and Montara fields in the US and Australia have demonstrated the importance of learning from major accident precursors in order to appraise the risk potential involved in critical offshore operations. This is fully realised by the Petroleum Safety Authority in Norway, which has a specific requirement for such learning in its regulations. However, an unfortunate practice has been developed by the major players in the Norwegian offshore industry, whereby potential is severely and systematically downplayed, probably to limit the negative exposure if the actual potential consequences were known. The present article analyses 45 major accident precursor investigations in order to demonstrate the effect of downplaying the potential of major accidents. It demonstrates how the risk potential classified in investigation reports has a random relationship to the more objective risk potential, as shown in the national risk indicator project conducted by the Petroleum Safety Authority. This is further demonstrated by comparing company investigations with authority investigations in four cases where parallel investigations were performed.

On the analysis of hydrocarbon leaks in the Norwegian offshore industry

There have been several major offshore accidents in different offshore regions since 2005. In Norway there have been several very serious near-misses during the last ten years, several of which involving serious hydrocarbon leaks with catastrophic fire and explosion potential. All these severe occurrences demonstrate the importance of learning from major accident precursors in order to appraise the risk potential involved in critical offshore operations. This paper is based on analysis of about 175 hydrocarbon leaks in the period 2001–2010. Regulatory requirements in Norway are aimed at preventing as far as possible such occurrences during night time, but the analysis shows that this has been far from successful. The industry has for many years claimed that the maintenance personnel are the main group of employees involved in causing these leaks. This study has shown that leaks during the execution of maintenance and modification are less than half of the leaks, and that failures during the preparation for carrying out maintenance tasks are more frequent. Such preparations have often been conducted during night shift. The analysis gives a strong incentive to change this practice.

Evaluation of the Risk OMT model for maintenance work on major offshore process equipment

Operational safety is receiving more and more attention in the Norwegian offshore industry. Almost two thirds of all leaks on offshore installations in the period 2001–2005, according to the Risk Level Project by the Petroleum Safety Authority in Norway, resulted from manual operations and interventions, as well as shut-down and start-up. The intention with the Risk OMT (risk modelling – integration of organisational, human and technical factors) program has been to develop more representative models for calculation of leak frequencies as a function of the volume of manual operations and interventions. In the Risk OMT project a generic risk model has been developed and is adapted to use for specific failure scenarios. The model considers the operational barriers in event trees and fault trees, as well as risk influencing factors that determine the basic event probabilities in the fault trees. The full model, which applies Bayesian belief networks, is presented more thoroughly in a separate paper. This paper presents the evaluation of the model. The model has been evaluated through some case studies, and one important aspect is the evaluation of the importance of each risk influencing factor. In addition some risk-reducing measures have been proposed, and the paper presents how the effect of these measures has been evaluated by using the model. Finally, possible applications and recommendations for further work are discussed.

What is most important for safety climate: The company belonging or the local working environment? – A study from the Norwegian offshore industry

Obtaining knowledge about factors affecting health, safety and environment (HSE) is of major interest to the petroleum industry, but there is currently a severe shortage of relevant studies. The aim of this study was to examine the relative influence of offshore installation (local working environment) and company belonging on employees’ opinions concerning occupational health and safety. We analyzed data from a safety climate survey answered by 4479 Norwegian offshore petroleum employees in 2005 on the dimensions “Safety prioritisation”, “Safety management and involvement”, “Safety versus production”, “Individual motivation”, “System comprehension” and “Competence” using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), effect size and mixed model. The companies differed significantly for “Safety prioritisation”, “Safety versus production”, “Individual motivation”, “System comprehension” and “Competence”. The local offshore installation explained more of the safety climate than the company they were employed in or worked for did.

Safe off Shore Workers and Unsafe Fishermen – a System Failure?

This paper is a case study of the safety records of the Norwegian offshore industry and Norwegian fishing fleet. A comparison of the major and fatal accident rates in these two industries shows that, in the past 16 years, the loss of life is 12 times higher for fishermen than for offshore workers. The paper highlights the way in which safety levels in both industries are influenced by a range of factors. These factors characterise the industries in terms of their respective regulatory frameworks, stakeholders in the market, industrial relations and safety management systems. The paper concludes that the effectiveness of self-regulation and proven safety management tools depends on the competence, commitment and co-ordinated action of the actors who use the tools, as well as on the contextual framework for their actions.

Safety in the design of offshore platforms: Integrated safety versus safety as an add-on characteristic

The Norwegian offshore industry has established considerable experience and know-how in preventing accidents through design. This paper analysis the principles used by this industry during the different phases of design from two different perspectives. The first is human centred and the focus is here on the design of work places to allow the operators at the sharp end to function in an optimal way to minimise human errors and mitigate disturbances. The second “energy barrier” perspective aims at providing technical safety functions on the platform that intervene in the accident path to minimise loss. Accident and incident statistics show that the barrier perspective has been implemented in design to prevent fires and explosions with considerable achievements, whereas its application in occupational accident prevention is more arbitrary. Design of fire and explosion barriers fits well with the current engineering skills and work-processes in investment projects. The implementation of a systematic human-centred design approach is of a more recent date. It has proved to be more demanding and the merits have been more difficult to demonstrate. The implications for the organisation and management of the design process are discussed.

Use of risk acceptance criteria in Norwegian offshore industry: Dilemmas and challenges

Risk analyses have been used in the Norwegian offshore petroleum industry for more than two decades. The analyses have been closely linked to the use of risk acceptance criteria (RAC). This paper gives a short review of the motivation and use of RAC in the management of risk at offshore installations. Focus is on the present situation and challenges in the Norwegian petroleum industry. The paper will discuss some recommended principles for arriving at risk acceptance. The relation between the acceptability of risk and the cost-benefit of risk reducing measures is also considered, mainly in the context of the ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) principle.

Working time arrangements and safety for offshore workers in the North Sea

The risk level in the Norwegian offshore industry is higher to day than in the period 1996–1998. Towards the end of the last century there were negotiations between the employers' and employees' unions about changing the working time arrangements and possible negative or positive effects on safety were discussed. The work arrangement for offshore workers at the Norwegian part of the North Sea has, up till 2002, been asymmetric with 2 weeks offshore work, then 3 weeks free period at home, 2 weeks offshore and 4 weeks at home. The proposed new working time arrangement—which was obtained by negotiations in 2002—is symmetric with 2 weeks offshore and a 4 weeks free period each time. Our research question was if 4 versus 3 weeks at home had any impact on the accident level. To answer this question, methodological triangulation was used. Thirty offshore workers on three different platforms in the North Sea owned by three different companies were interviewed about their subjective perceptions of the relationships between safety and 4 versus 3 weeks at home. In addition to that, SYNERGI accident data from the same platforms were combined with work schedule lists from the personnel systems in each of the companies. Almost all the respondents wanted the new working arrangement and they subjectively saw no relationship between safety and 4 versus 3 weeks at home. This lack of relationship between accident level and safety was confirmed by the quantitative data.

A Comparative Study of Accident and near Miss Reporting Systems in the German Nuclear Industry and the Norwgian Offshore Industry

A basic assumption in modern safety management is that accidents are preventable through effective feedback control; i. e. through mechanisms by which information about accidents and near misses is utilised as a basis to increase the level of safety. In spite of their popularity, however, previous research has shown that it is frequently difficult to make Accident and Near Miss Analysis Systems (ANMAS) work according to intentions. The present paper presents results from a comparative study of ANMASs in the German nuclear industry and the Norwegian offshore industry. Both industries have a strong emphasis on incident recording and analysis. However, there are important differences between the two industries regarding what events are understood as “incidents”, what information on incidents is collected, how the information is processed, and how corrective actions are developed and implemented. These differences are analysed in light of distinctive features of the two industries (e.g. risk scenarios, technology, organisation), legislative factors, and social and cultural variables. It is argued that although different industry sectors may have a lot to learn from each other regarding how to handle accident and near miss reporting, the efficiency of a particular ANMAS must be evaluated relative to the industry's frame conditions.

Industrial complexes, receiver competence and national systems of innovations. The case of the Norwegian offshore industry

When the Norwegian government decided to exploit oil and gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf in the second half of the 1960s, public and private competence related to this type of industrial activity was relatively limited. In the following 30 years the situation changed. Both a dynamic petro-industrial complex and a national system of innovation related to the offshore production of oil and gas were developed. How was this possible? The article addresses the question by focusing on how the development of the petro-industrial complex was influenced by contextual conditions in which the firms constituting the complexes operate. Special attention is given to the existence of Norwegian public and private receiver competence and the development of Norwegian public and private participation competence related to the oil and gas activities.

Project start-up in tough practice : Visions and experience from project launching in the Norwegian offshore oil industry

To place the theme ‘project start-up in tough practice’ in perspective a retrospective view of project development in the Norwegian offshore industry and of some characteristics of offshore engineering projects is given. Two main themes within project start-up are addressed: the benefit of pre-project preparations and use of start-up schedules, and the necessity of organizational development.