Marine Safety in Oil and Gas Industry
Authors: El Sanabary Mohamed Awad 
Published: December 2014

Marine spread is increased signeicantly in many of oil and gas fields due to the increased demand on production and consequently the ongoing projects and activities. Some oil and gas fields are very congested with offshore subsea and topside installations. Some fields are having some shallow areas that create additional hazards for navigating marine vessels. Heavy traffic and competency of senior sea staff is another issue. Adequacy of systems in place including navigational aids another area of concern in many places.

Achieving accident free marine operations is a real challenge nowadays and needs more efforts by all concerned stakeholders.

The following are the recommended actions considered by a multi-discipline taskforce that was formed in ADMA-OPCO for tackling this issue.

1.1. Marine HSE Orientation and Licensing for Senior Sea Staff It is agreed to establish a Marine HSE Orientation Program for all Senior Sea Staff personnel prior to resuming their duty. Such program shall cover all the essential information's; e.g. Approved Marine Field Charts, Night Work Limitations, Shallow Areas and Obstructions, Speed Limits, Congested Areas, Incident Reporting, etc. 1.2. Planned Audits of Marine Operations Planned auditing on Marine Operations is essential for monitoring and ensuring compliance with all related marine standards and regulations. 1.3. Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) VTMIS would be one of the key tools for monitoring Marine Vessels within the agreed coverage area. 1.4. Enhanced Navigational Aids Adequacy of Navigational Aids shall be assessed for ensuring compliance with the minimum requirements. 1.5. Process of replacing Senior Sea Staff Ensure having process in place for Crew Change Notification (Senior Sea Staff) 1.6. Marine Vessel Entry into Congested Areas It is cucial to agree on what can be defined as a congested area and consequently to agree on the minimum requirements when there is a need to enter such area. This shall cover development and/or enhancement of checklist with regard of entry into congested area, specification of Marine Vessel which could be Dynamic Positioning (DP-2), clear identification of interfaces, roles and responsibilities between the Barge, Marine Vessel, and the Offshore Installation. 1.7. Marine Field Charts It was observed that there was a presence of different marine field charts especially when having more than one operator in the same field. In addition, there was one incident when the Marine Vessel Master used an outdated/obsolete marine field chart. One of the recommendations highlighted the utilization of electronic equipment such as ECDIS that can eliminate the chances of using outdated/obsolete marine field charts. 1.8. Anchor Handling Related Incidents Due to several incidents related to anchor handling operations, it was found crucial to seek all the new technologies/techniques that shall help in eliminating the chances of occurrence of this type of incidents; i.e. use of synthetic ropes, latest techniques of monitoring, etc. 1.9. Uncontrolled Marine Units (Drifting Barges/Marine Vessels)