The Development of the Regulatory Compliance Scheme for the Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Scanio Steven 
Published: May 2011

The standard formula for the certification of floating offshore installations (FOIs) in the U.S. regions of the Gulf of Mexico has remained the same between 1995 and 2006. This formula is derived based on a floating offshore installation being U.S. flagged and reviewed to the requirements of Title 33 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs) Subchapter N (requirements for floating outer continental shelf (OCS) facilities) which refers one to various parts of Title 46 of the CFRs for design requirements.

In the past, there were basically two(2) methods of certifying floating offshore installations. One method was to use a professional engineer (P.E.) and have drawings submitted to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for all approvals. The other was to Class the vessel with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and have ABS perform the certification work for compliance with the CFRs on behalf of the USCG using guidance from Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circulars 10-82, 10-92 Change 2 and 3-97.

Nearly all floating production facilities installed between 1995 and 2006 were " new builds?? and U.S. flagged. All were moored to the seafloor. None were ship-shaped.

Helix Energy Solutions Group (Helix) was about to change history with the first ship-shaped floating production facility, but the differences did not start here. The vessel was a conversion of a 21-year old ship. The vessel was foreign flagged. The vessel would be Classed with Lloyd's Register (LR). The vessel would use a dynamic positioning system to maintain station keeping as opposed to using a mooring system; and the vessel would have a disconnectable riser system which would allow it to disconnect in the event of an emergency or if found to be in the path of a severe storm / hurricane.

The standard formula for certification had to change, but compliance had to be equivalent to that of the CFRs. To accomplish this, a Regulatory Compliance Scheme had to be developed between Helix Energy Solutions Group, Lloyd's Register and the USCG. This paper presents the details of this Regulatory Compliance Scheme and execution methodology to achieve LR Class, Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Certification and USCG Compliance.

Project Beginning

The HELIX PRODUCER I began as a German flagged, Germanischer Lloyd Classed, SOLAS certified train ferry that was built in 1986. Arriving in Rijeka Croatia in June of 2006, the vessel was planned to be converted to a dynamically positioned (DP) offshore supply vessel which then turned into a conversion project to a Bahamian flagged ship-shaped dynamically positioned disconnectable floating production unit (FPU) classed by Lloyd's Register (LR) intended to operate in the Gulf of Mexico.

One of the primary features to be incorporated into the design of the HELIX PRODUCER I was its disconnectable transfer system (DTS) which in an emergency or for the purposes of severe weather evasion allows the vessel to disconnect the riser system by releasing a buoy which supports the riser system. This system also allows for retrieval of the riser system.