Floating Systems Integrity Management of BP Operated GoM Deepwater Production Facilities
Authors: Geyer J.F. , Perryman Steve , Irani Mehernosh B. , Chappell John F. 
Published: July 2009

BP currently operates a total of seven deepwater floating production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). These include one TLP, three spars, and three semi-submersibles in water depths ranging from 3,000 to 7,000 ft. BP has a comprehensive Integrity Management (IM) program to ensure the safe operations of these facilities and the oversight of the marine elements of this broader IM program is managed by a central Marine Engineering Team.

This paper describes the IM program for the floating systems of these facilities. Floating systems, as used in this paper, includes the hull, mooring and primary topsides structure. While IM in its broadest application applies to all stages of design, construction, operation and decommissioning, the Floating System Integrity Management (FSIM) program described here is applied in the operations phase.

The three major components of the FSIM program, as described in this paper, include: Marine Monitoring, Platform Inspections, and Marine Assurance Engineering (MAE). The first two components provide the information required for an effective MAE program. The MAE work is described in detail including example applications. Results of this work are continually fed back to update the FSIM program (targeting improved operations and further risk reduction) and also to improve future floating system designs. FSIM is a key tool to help validate potential tie-back additions and also to justify potential for future facility life extension.

Introduction

BP's Gulf of Mexico Strategic Performance Unit (SPU) is required to comply with the internal BP Group Integrity Management (IM) Standard, which applies to all BP operated projects and assets worldwide. The SPU also complies with all regulatory requirements set by the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), and in some cases, classification societies such as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

As BP's portfolio of deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GoM) floating production facilities grew, a central Marine Engineering Team was formed in 2004 to address the IM requirements of the floating systems and risers. Currently, the Marine Engineering Team has ten engineers: three Floating Systems engineers, three Riser System engineers, two Marine Mechanical engineers, a Naval Architect and a Marine Integrity Coordinator. The overall team role is to provide technical expertise in support of safe management of the risks associated with the hull, mooring, risers, and marine mechanical systems. The riser IM efforts have been described previously by Cook, et al [2006].

The Floating System engineers are dedicated to two or three facilities each. This allows for familiarization with the short and long term operational issues on the particular facility. Also, in many cases the Floating System engineers had worked on the original design of one or more of the facilities to which they are assigned. This provides insight into system configuration and history of the design and construction issues.