Oil & Gas UK has published two updated sets of guidelines to help operators of floating production storage and offloading facilities (FPSOs), floating storage units (FSUs) and offtake tankers to adopt advances in industry good practice.
Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, Oonagh Werngren, explains: “Issue 2 of the Mooring Integrity Guidelines provides guidance to enable operators of permanently moored offshore installations to improve the reliability of permanent mooring systems and enhance the management of mooring integrity. Issue 3 of the Tandem Loading Guidelines embodies advances in industry knowledge regarding the process of loading hydrocarbons from the stern of an FPSO to the bow of a shuttle tanker.
“The industry’s FPSO research forum has provided new input to Issue 2 of the Mooring Integrity Guidelines. This includes improvements to existing methods for evaluating wear and tear of mooring chains, information on microbe-induced corrosion and updated inspection techniques, all of which will contribute to improving safety performance.
“Feedback from the industry’s FPSO forum also showed that operators of FPSOs and FSUs use a variety of operational procedures to carry out Tandem Loading Operations so Issue 3 of the guidelines incorporates guidance to cover a wider range of operational scenarios.
“In producing these guidelines, our aim is to help operators reduce the rate of incidents and to reduce the inherent risk of a major accident to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) in accordance with UK goal setting legislation. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the wider industry in helping us bring together advances in good practices for FPSO operations.”