Growing activities for oil&gas exploration and production on the Russian continental shelf marks last decade. Most executed and planned projects are presumed to be developed by international technical and financial participation. There is historical difference between Russian and Western approach to safety regulation and procedures regarding offshore oil and gas activities, causing problems in joint activities. Bearing this in mind several co-operation projects are carried out in Russia, both on governmental level and by oil&gas companies. The paper describes new step-by-step approach developed and applied in Russia to enable timely regulatory preparations for endorsing acceptable HSE requirements in the conditions of existing legalclimate. The approach means two activities performed in parallel:analysis of existing regulatory problems, gaps and discrepancies and elaboration of first order norms and standards within the specially established Technical Committee under the umbrella of State Standard Committee, anddevelopment of Special Technical Conditions to prevent potential risks and delays for specific projects. Reported approach is described in details and endorsed by some examples showing its practicability during overcoming period. Authors represent their vision of expected progress in HSE harmonization. Introduction It is quite clear, that each foreign company, going to operate on any national market, prefers to meet there full, clear and non-contradictory HSE regime. Usually it is so for traditional and nationally developed business, but not for new and developing activities, like offshore oil and gas exploration and production on Russian shelf. Being traditional oil and gas producer, and, therefore, having developed regulation for onshore activities, Russian Federation is now on relatively early stage of expanding this industry to offshore. Historically, Russian oil and gas production was developed on self-provisioned manner, oriented to native design, construction and equipment, more or lessfenced off world technical practices and having its original system of norms, standards and rules. Moreover, Russian State regulatory and supervisory system was developed to serve within totally State-owned economy, which, to certain extent, is still persistent in practice. Additional complication is that new Russian developments are located on Arcticand Far-East shelf with challenging environmental and ecologically sensitive conditions, having no precedents not only in Russia, but worldwide too. Thus:*the development of HSE regulation for offshore oil and gas activities is of high actuality and of great importance;*it seems quite natural to built HSE regulation both on base of existing norms, standards, and rules, and by implementation of modern experience, gained and developed worldwide;*harmonization is a way to combine different regulatory systems.
TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractNew challenging offshore oil production project to be developed by Russian JSC Rosshelf in tight and sensitive Arctic offshore environmental conditions. The Project is subject to extensive international partnership and co-operation both on design/construction/drilling/operational phase and on safety and environmental protection provisions. The paper summarizes the experience gained and prospects expected for enabling proper HSE regime for the pioneer project, expected to open the gate to the development of Barents Sea hydrocarbon development. Special attention is admitted to demonstrate the manner and procedure for implementation of internationally recognized HSE requirements and best practices.
The majority of new Russian oil and gas developments are located either in harsh, like Siberia inland, Arctic and Far East off-shore, and/or in sensitive environmental conditions, such as all the above, Caspian and Baltic Sea. Besides of affordable good practice intents, there are two additional items making HSE management of such developments a challenging issue. First is that during last years State regulation in the HSE issues demonstrates never yet seen severization of requirements, where some of them are much stronger that those in other countries. The second is that nowadays developments are participating by foreign companies, both as stakeholders and contractors. Newcomers entering Russian developments may become anxious about an evident gap between what they know as a common practice and what they are requested in this country. The paper is mainly focused on emergency preparedness and oil spill response planning:What is required by the State regulation andHow the industry can comply with. Introduction The stress is made on the harmonization of Russian regulations with foreign norms, rules and standards, apprised as the best way to international HSE cooperation [1]. Author's own experience gained in HSE management of some challenging projects [2] and in participation in State conducted reviews as an invited HSE expert demonstrates that Oil Spill Response (OSR) requirements are not yet harmonized and are subject for that in nearest future. Although overview examples are mainly drawn from offshore industry, the same is indicated for inland developments too. Let us consider two main points on which OSR planning in Russia to be based:worst case discharge to be withstood by OSR Plan;time of spill localizations. Worst Case Discharge Russian regulation has established the following worst case discharges since 2000:offshore stationary and floating production facility and terminal - spill of 1500 tons;pipeline:by small leakage - 2 % of oil transfer during 14 days;by significant rupture - 25 % of oil transfer during 6 hours + oil volume between nearest securing valves;tanker - 2 tanks. The above uniform requirements are unconditional with no respect to facility location and engineering design, development and operational phasing, implemented safety measures and discharge scenarios. Offshore facilities When comparing the above with that required by USA MMS [3]: "For an oil production platform facility, the size of your worst case discharge scenario is the sum of the following: the maximum capacity of all oil storage tanks and flow lines on the facility; the volume of oil calculated to leak from a break in any pipelines connected to the facility considering shutdown time, the effect of hydrostatic pressure, gravity, frictional wall forces and other factors; the daily production volume from an uncontrolled blowout of the highest capacity well associated with the facility. In determining the daily discharge rate, you must consider reservoir characteristics, casing/production tubing sizes, and historical production and reservoir pressure data.", one can see that lot of technical details are to be taken into consideration.
The report presents the state and results of hazards and risk assessment for the development of the Shtokman gas condensate field (SGCF) in the Barents Sea. The harsh natural conditions, significant amounts of hazardous substances and the complexity of the project make the necessary detailed assessments of hazards and risks to the identification, understanding, consideration, elimination and/or mitigation the risks as well as the demonstration of the achieved project safety to the public, the authorities and the international partnership. Understandable lack of experience of Russia's offshore oil and gas developments makes hazard and risk assessment and management a significant area of international cooperation. The report focuses on the risk assessments of major accidents during the construction of offshore facilities, including the drilling of wells with newly-built drilling rigs, operating subsea production system (SPS), ice-resisting floating process unit (FPU), subsea infield and trunk pipelines, shipping and transport of liquid hydrocarbons. Attention is paid to the identification, evaluation and application of international data on failures and accidents during drilling, offshore construction, gas and condensate production and transport. The report identifies the main sources of probable hydrocarbon spills, specify their character and volume. Hydrocarbon spills behavior and spreading is investigated by modeling with a due account of the observed region specific meteorological, sea and ice conditions. By this zones of potential impacts of spills and the threat of pollution of shorelines and coastal protected areas is identified. The basic data for planning for hydrocarbon spill response and coast protection (OSR) are obtained with recommendations on the organization and dimensioning parameters of the spills combating system.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.