Table Of ContentPROCESS SAFETY IN UPSTREAM
OIL AND GAS
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PROCESS SAFETY IN UPSTREAM
OIL AND GAS
CENTER FOR CHEMICAL PROCESS SAFETY
of the
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
120 Wall St, 23rd Floor • New York, NY 10005
This edition first published 2021
© 2021 the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Center for Chemical
Process Safety, author.
Title: Process safety in upstream oil and gas / American Institute of
Chemical Engineers.
Other titles: Process safety in upstream oil and gas
Description: Hoboken, NJ, USA : Wiley, 2021. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021003994 (print) | LCCN 2021003995 (ebook) | ISBN
9781119620044 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119620051 (adobe pdf) | ISBN
9781119620143 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Oil fields–Safety measures. | Gas wells–Safety measures.
| Petroleum industry and trade–Safety measures. | Gas
industry–Accidents.
Classification: LCC TN871.215 .P76 2021 (print) | LCC TN871.215 (ebook) |
DDC 622/.8–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003994
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003995
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Images: © grandriver/Getty Images; © HeliRy/Getty Images
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
List of Tables ......................................................................................................... vii
List of Figures ......................................................................................................... ix
Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................. xi
Glossary ..................................................................................................................xv
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. xxv
Online Materials Accompanying this Book ........................................................ xxvii
1 An Introduction to Process Safety for Upstream 1
1.1 Background ................................................................................. 1
1.2 Applicability of Process Safety to Upstream ............................... 2
1.3 Intended Audience ...................................................................... 3
1.4 Why the Reader Should be Interested ......................................... 4
1.5 Scope of This Book ..................................................................... 7
1.6 Upstream Safety Performance ..................................................... 7
1.7 Summary ................................................................................... 10
2 The Upstream Industry 13
2.1 Upstream Industry ..................................................................... 13
2.2 Exploration Phase...................................................................... 21
2.3 Engineering Design, Construction and Installation ................... 23
2.4 Production Phase ....................................................................... 25
2.5 Well Workovers and Interventions............................................ 28
2.6 Decommissioning Phase ........................................................... 28
2.7 Defining “Barriers” ................................................................... 29
2.8 Overview of International Regulations ..................................... 33
3 Overview of Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) 37
3.1 Background ............................................................................... 37
3.2 RBPS Summary ........................................................................ 37
3.3 Conclusion ................................................................................ 52
v
vi PROCESS SAFETY IN UPSTREAM OIL & GAS
4 Application of Process Safety to Wells 53
4.1 Background ............................................................................... 53
4.2 Well Constuction: Risks and Key Process Safety Measures ..... 63
4.3 Applying Process Safety Methods in Well Construction .......... 72
5 Application of Process Safety to Onshore Production 87
5.1 Background ............................................................................... 87
5.2 Onshore Production Facilities: Risks and Key Process
Safety Measures ........................................................................ 91
5.3 Applying Process Safety Methods in Onshore Production ....... 99
6 Application of Process Safety to Offshore Production 107
6.1 Background ............................................................................. 107
6.2 Offshore Production Facilities: Risks and Key Process
Safety Measures ...................................................................... 111
6.3 Applying Process Safety Methods in Offshore Production ..... 117
7 Application of Process Safety to Engineering Design,
Construction and Installation 129
7.1 Background ............................................................................. 129
7.2 Front End Loading .................................................................. 132
7.3 Detailed Design ....................................................................... 137
7.4 Procurement and Construction ................................................ 138
7.5 Commissioning and Startup of Facilities ................................ 140
8 Process Safety: Looking Forward 141
8.1 Looking Forward ..................................................................... 141
8.2 Research Needs ....................................................................... 142
8.3 Technical Advances ................................................................ 144
8.4 Vision for Upstream Process Safety ........................................ 146
REFERENCES 147
INDEX 155
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1-1. Selected incidents ................................................................................... 5
Table 2-1. Types of upstream rigs and facilities .................................................... 15
Table 6-1. Example safety critical systems and equipment ................................. 125
Table 7-1. Project life cycle stages ...................................................................... 131
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1. Difference between process safety and occupational safety ................. 2
Figure 1-2. Scope of Process Safety in Upstream Oil and Gas ............................... 8
Figure 1-3. Tier 1 and Tier 2 process safety events ................................................. 9
Figure 2-1. Typical upstream life cycle ................................................................. 13
Figure 2-2. Example onshore treatment facility, Alaska ........................................ 17
Figure 2-3. Example onshore drilling rig (left) and offshore jackup rig (right) ..... 17
Figure 2-4. Example fixed platform with linked bridge (North Sea) ..................... 18
Figure 2-5. Example Tension Leg Platform (TLP) (Gulf of Mexico).................... 18
Figure 2-6. Example FPSO .................................................................................... 19
Figure 2-7. Example FPU (on dry tow showing parts normally submerged) ........ 19
Figure 2-8. Typical types of production installations in use on the deepwater
outer continental shelf (OCS) ............................................................. 20
Figure 2-9. Typical types of production installations in use on the outer
continental shelf (OCS) ...................................................................... 20
Figure 2-10. Typical arrangement of facilities for a production well .................... 26
Figure 2-11. Bow tie model ................................................................................... 32
Figure 3-1. RBPS structure .................................................................................... 38
Figure 4-1. Pore pressure versus fracture gradient relationship ............................. 56
Figure 4-2. Two-barrier diagram for drilling, coring and tripping with a
shearable string .................................................................................. 58
Figure 4-3. Example offshore BOP ....................................................................... 61
Figure 4-4. Risk matrix .......................................................................................... 79
Figure 4-5. Example showing different levels of detail in bow tie diagrams......... 81
Figure 5-1. Example onshore smaller-scale production and large-scale
production facilities ............................................................................ 89
Figure 5-2. Source term pathways to ultimate consequences ................................ 92
Figure 5-3. Caribou grazing by pipeline in production facility .............................. 93
Figure 5-4. Weights attached to pipe to dampen vibrations ................................... 94
Figure 6-1. Example of shallow water facility Gulf of Mexico ........................... 108
Figure 6-2. Example of offshore layout ............................................................... 109
Figure 6-3. Hazard identification and risk evaluation approaches ....................... 121
Figure 6-4. Example fault tree logic .................................................................... 124
ix
x PROCESS SAFETY IN UPSTREAM OIL & GAS
Figure 7-1. Project stages..................................................................................... 132
Figure 7-2. Concept for including inherently safer design .................................. 135
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ADNOC Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
AEGL Acute Exposure Guideline Level
AIChE American Institute of Chemical Engineers
ALARP As Low as Reasonably Practicable
ANP National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels
ANSI American National Standards Institute
API American Petroleum Institute
ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
BLEVE Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion
BSEE Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
BOD Basis of Design
BOP Blowout Preventer
CCF Common Cause Failure
CCPS Center for Chemical Process Safety (of AIChE)
CCTV Closed Circuit Television
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
C-NLOPB Canada-Newfoundland & Labrador Offshore Petroleum
Board
COMAH Control of Major Accident Hazards (UK Regulation
incorporating the EU Seveso Directive requirements)
COS Center for Offshore Safety
CPQRA Chemical Process Quantitative Risk Assessment
CRA Concept Risk Analysis
CSB Chemical Safety Board (US)
DDT Deflagration to Detonation Transition
DOE Department of Energy (US)
DWOP Drill Well on Paper
EER Escape Evacuation and Rescue
EPA Environmental Protection Agency (US)
ERPG Emergency Response Planning Guideline
ESD Emergency Shutdown
ESDV Emergency Shutdown Valve
ETA Event Tree Analysis
EU European Union
FABIG Fire and Blast Information Group
FAR Fatal Accident Rate
FAT Factory Acceptant Test
FEED Front End Engineering Design
FEL Front End Loading
FERC Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
xi
