ModuSpec BV and Scandpower AS, members of the Lloyd’s Register Group, are developing a new tool with origins from the nuclear power industry that may prove highly useful to subsea engineers, offshore drilling managers, and regulators.
Operational Risk Management (ORM) is the process that evaluates the likelihood of a casualty occurring while comparing it to its associated consequences. BOP Monitor, a new tool under development by Scandpower applies ORM principles in a highly specific manner to one of the most important, and highly complex systems on board a drilling rig, the blow out preventer.
Last year’s Deepwater Horizon disaster cast an enormous spotlight on blow out preventer technology because the one sitting atop the Macondo Well failed to accomplish its mission, and millions of gallons of oil spilled into the sea. A one-in-a-million chance? Perhaps. In the decades since subsea blowout preventers have been used, countless have worked as-designed mitigating the disastrous consequences we all saw last summer.
As the industry moves toward the arctic however, failure of these systems is absolutely not an option and risk management is of utmost importance to operators and coastal states.
In an interview last week with Scandpower AS’ Technical Director, Inge Alme, he explained,
The BOP Monitor program is unique because it creates a BOP-specific Operational Risk Management profile while taking into account factors such as water depth, the reliability of each component within that BOP, and the brand of BOP being used. Operators, regulators, and subsea engineers can now know in real-time, and with a much higher degree of certainty, the risk incurred whenever subsea issues are encountered.
In their press release, ModuSpec’s Chief Executive Officer Duco de Haan, elaborates:
Present BOP risk assessments lack a consistent structure. As a result, decisions on whether or not to pull them for inspection and maintenance can be subjective and difficult to understand, particularly for senior management and regulatory bodies.