The offshore environment is the most challenging in the industry. Oil & Gas Middle East gets the latest developments from the companies keeping your crews safe.
Offshore facilities are the most potentially hazardous in the upstream industry, and though the Middle East does not feature the kinds of depths and conditions seen in the North Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, offshore safety is a continuous cause of concern for rig operators.
Added to this is commercial pressure. In the Middle East, the majority of offshore fields are mature or past peak production, leading producers to focus on margins as they manage down reservoirs.
Doing so to the point of compromising safety can be catastrophic, as US government reports into the Macondo disaster last year have shown, and so operators need solutions that are both effective and efficient.
Regional firms are helping producers to deliver on the high standards of safety national oil companies expect, while delivering commercial benefits.
After the Gulf of Mexico spill, the industry has reappraised its offshore rig inspection and maintenance procedures, with a greater emphasis on more frequent and precise testing.
Accessing rigs and conducting non-destructive testing (NDT) on them at close range can be expensive by more traditional boat and scaffold methods, especially when it means shutting down production.
On the ropes
One solution is rope access, a specialty of Dubai-based firm Megarme, who, in addition to the oil and gas industry provide services on a range of civil and construction projects, including the Dubai Metro’s Green Line and the Burj Khalifa.
“Megarme has been extremely busy over the summer,” says explains Amel Vresman, head of Megarme Access Solutions.
“We have seen an massive increase in demand on civil and construction projects.” The company has been strengthening its inspection, maintenance and repair offering and offers lump-sum turnkey projects to offshore operators, with many of the region’s IOCs, NOCs and main contractors on its books.
“We are currently involved in large structural integrity and maintenance projects as part of asset management programs,” explains Vresman, “and we are involved in shut-downs throughout the Middle East where we perform flair-tip exchanges, paint and blast programs.”
The firm can also conduct NDT and some maintenance via rope access, and is having success with a new rope solution that can replace scaffolding for larger or longer jobs. The firm’s Mega-Web product – for which it has exclusive rights to in the region – offers the advantage of a scaffold with the speedy deployment of rope access.
“In a nutshell the tensioned net and deck system is an engineered access solution for under deck areas or those difficult to reach,” says Vresman.
The web can bear heavy loads and is suitable for jobs where longer access times are required, or the nature of the work to be done is such that conventional rope access is impractical or dangerous.
The product is the result of collaboration between Megarme and UK manufacturers Web RSL, which designed the product after listening to Shell and other North Sea operators.
“Historically, rope access was the main alternative for offshore scaffolding but had its limits because of physical reasons,” says Vresman. “Tensioned net and deck systems enlarge the scope of work for rope access.
Installation of these systems is always done with rope access, which statistically makes it safer, and on average goes 10 times quicker!”
From a risk assessment perspective the Net and or Deck system (see pictures) can either replace or complement rope access projects or replace the entire scaffolding process on most under-hang structures such as rigs, helicopter landing decks, spider deck & sub-cellar deck, hull, bridges, flair-stacks, and cargo and ballast tanks.
Multiple structures can be fitted at once, covering more ground in less time and less bed and deck space.
Safety net
Mega-Web fills an important gap between traditional rope access and scaffolding, delivering cost and time savings to rig operators in maintenance, inspection and repair work.
Mega-Web enables Megarme to evaluate cost, environment and time factors to ensure an inspection or maintenance project will be carried out in the safest way possible according quality specifications.
“Our new web deck and net systems have allowed us to differentiate our services and we have been quite successful implementing our product towards LNG carriers, FSPO’s, VLCC’s, Semi-subs, onshore tank storage, and offshore accommodation and production utilities,” says Vresman.
“Our services are tailored around the heavy maintenance and difficult to reach areas and is in fact a full alternative for scaffolding.”
“Earlier this year, Megarme designed a system that assures rapid installation for third parties on VLCC’s and or LNG tankers for the cargo and ballast tank inspections assuring safer third party access and multi-disciplined operations,” says Vresman.
“Other projects include installation of full under-deck structures of semi-submersibles, FSPO’s or Jack-ups, even whilst in transit,” he adds.
In addition to keeping maintenance crews safe and allowing rig operators to conduct more thorough and involved inspection and maintenance inspections in situ, Vresman says using Mega-Web may lead to shorter dry-dock periods and reduce overall maintenance budgets.
“Not to mention this system is lightweight, requires less deck space and less bed space is involved,” Vresman adds. “The operational advantages can be huge for our clients.”
“Our teams require less deck and bed space, the system can handle up to 15Kn m2, the backload to the structure is always less than 3 tonnes, we operate a safety factor of 5:1, it is light weight and set up and dismantled around six to ten times quicker than traditional scaffolding.”
All aboard
Providing safe and efficient access to offshore installations remains one of the great challenges for the offshore industry. More than 10 million crew transfers take place annually across the world in the offshore oil and gas sector, either by helicopter, vessel or crane and basket, making this one of the highest risk and highest cost activities in the offshore business.
Operators demand transfer methods that are inherently safe, proven, reliable and capable of handling the changeable conditions that occur in the offshore environment and suppliers must provide solutions that are both technically and economically feasible.
All marine crew transfers to offshore installations are potentially high risk, but, for marine personnel transfer, these can be significantly reduced, says Reflex Marine, international offshore access specialists.
Reflex Marine provides access solutions to offshore rigs by crane and basket, with its range of three, six and nine-man units used in over 460 offshore installations worldwide.
Offshore Solutions takes a different approach with ITS new telescoping gangway.
Conceived in 2003, the company’s 21-metre hydraulically-operated telescopic gangway, fitted with an active heave-compensation system connects to a landing station installed on the offshore structure by means of a hydraulically operated gripper-head.
There are currently nine offshore access system (OAS) units in the market and one unit in production.
It incorporates a motion reference unit in its active hydraulic system which, when engaged, maintains the walkway tip at a constant height relative to the horizon.
This allows the gangway to safely connect to a fixed offshore structure a maximum wave height of 4.8 metres when installed on a suitable vessel.
Offshore Solutions says the OAS is considered to be one of the safest methods of transferring personnel to offshore installations, having transferred in excess of 70,000 personnel since its first operation in 2006 without any incidents or accidents. The gangway is also designed to allow for the evacuation of immobilised workers by stretcher.
The company also believes the gangway provides a useful means of access for maintenance, inspection and inspection.
The cost per bed is also less than a Jack-Up accommodation unit and with multi-function capability, the OAS vessel can also be used as a standby vessel, to facilitate ROV or dive spread, dive support, workshops, materials storage and platform supply.
Most recently, the OAS commenced operations in Qatar for Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. who will operate the world’s largest gas to liquids plant.
Offshore Solutions is convinced that marine access systems will be increasingly used in the transfer of personnel to offshore structures in the future and is noticing that operators worldwide are beginning to challenge their existing operating models.
