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The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss maintenance challenges and maintenance practices for subsea petroleum production systems.

Maintenance challenges, current practices and factors that influence the maintenance and support practices were identified by a literature review and by using a case study conducted in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. The case study was based on semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews with a number of experts working in the subsea systems’ design, installation and support services in the Norwegian oil and gas industry.

The paper identifies and discusses subsea petroleum production system failures, maintenance, inspection, modification and support practices. Findings from literature are validated, and new challenges are identified and discussed.

The research is based on a case study in the Norwegian petroleum industry, but may be applicable in other countries as well. The subsea production systems are critical production systems, and failures may result in long downtime and costly maintenance, inspection and support services. Hence, inspection, maintenance and modification intervention support services requires careful project planning, implementation and execution, taking into account all influencing factors.

The identified challenges can be used by decision makers in offshore maintenance projects.

The robust appraisal of exploration drilling concepts is essential for establishing the economic viability of a prospective recovery field. This study evaluates the different concept selection methods that were considered for drilling operations at the Trym field in Norway. The construction of drilling rigs is a capital-intensive process, and it involves high levels of economic risk. These risks can be broadly categorised as aleatoric (i.e. those related to chance) and epistemic (i.e. those related to knowledge). Evaluating risks in the investment appraisal process tends to be a complicated process. Project risks are evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and are based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP). MCS provides a useful means of evaluating variabilities (i.e. aleatoric risks) in oil drilling operations. However, many of the economic risks in oil drilling processes are unanticipated, and, in some cases, are not readily expressible in quantitative values. The fuzzy AHP is therefore used to appraise the qualitatively defined indirect revenues comprising risks that affect future flexibilities, schedule certainty and health and safety performance. Both the Monte Carlo technique and the fuzzy AHP technique found that a cumulative revenue variation of up to 30% is possible in any of the considered drilling options. The fuzzy AHP technique estimates that the chances of profitability being less than NOK 1 billion over a five-year period is 0.5%, while the Monte Carlo technique estimates suggest a more conservative proportion of 10%. Overall, the fuzzy AHP technique is easy to use and flexible, and it demonstrates increased robustness and improved predictability.

The offshore supply vessel (OSV) industry is critical to offshore oil and gas operations around the world and contributes to the economic and ecological impacts experienced by the local communities supporting the offshore oil and gas industries. The OSV industry has not been studied significantly and the economic and ecological impacts to local communities is generally unknown. This paper aims to address these issues.

In this paper, the authors review the activities and logistical requirements involved in offshore exploration and development with special attention paid to workflows and the manner in which service vessels are utilized in the Gulf of Mexico. The authors estimate the OSV needs per stage of activity for offshore operations based on data collected from company planning documents, fleet utilization data from oil and gas companies and service providers, interviews and surveys. The statistical data is synthesized and reconciled and despite large variances the data sources are in reasonable agreement. Empirical data on circuit factors are also provided. The applications and limitations of the analyses are discussed.

In the US GOM, a large variety of marine vessels transport goods and provide services to exploration, development and production activity. OSVs provide a vital link between offshore E&P activities and shore‐based facilities. Offshore oil and gas operations cannot function without them and their utilization and spatial distribution provide a way of understanding the impacts of the offshore oil and gas industry on coastal communities.

This is the first empirical analysis of any offshore service vessel industry. The data presented here can be used to predict the environmental, economic, public health, and infrastructural consequences of alternative offshore development policies.

A substantial number of production assets in the offshore oil and gas industry are facing operation beyond their anticipated design life, thus necessitating a service life extension program in the future. Selection of the most suitable strategy among a wide range of potential options to extend the lifetime of equipment (e.g. re-using, reconditioning, remanufacturing, refurbishing and adding on safety/process control measures) remains a challenging task that involves several technical, economic and organizational complexities. In order to tackle this challenge, it is crucial to develop analytical tools and methods capable of evaluating and prioritizing end-of-life strategies with respect to their associated costs and quantifiable benefits. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper presents a life-cycle cost-benefit analysis approach to identify the most suitable life extension strategy for ageing offshore assets by taking into account all the capital, installation, operational, maintenance and risk expenditures during the extended phase of operation. The potential of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through a case study involving a three-phase separator vessel which was constructed in the mid-1970s.

The results from the application case indicate that the capital expenditure (CapEx) accounts for the largest portion of life cycle cost for the replacement strategy, while risk expenditure (RiskEx) is the major contributor to costs associated with life extension. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to identify factors having the greatest impact on the optimum life extension solution, including oil price, production rate and money interest rate.

In the past, the decisions about life extension or replacement of in-service equipment were often made in a qualitative way based on experience and judgment of engineers and inspectors. This study presents a “quantitative” framework to evaluate and compare the costs, benefits and risks associated with life extension strategies and subsequently to select the best strategy based on benefit/cost ratios.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, no studies before have applied life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis methods to prioritize the potential life extension strategies in the oil and gas industry sector. The proposed approach not only assists decision makers in selecting the most suitable life extension strategy but also helps duty holders reduce the costs corresponding to life extension execution.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss various factors that will influence the process of installing and maintaining subsea equipment in the oil and gas (O&G) industry.

Influencing factors and their attributes are identified using a case study on subsea installations conducted in the Norwegian O&G industry. A number of experts were interviewed. A survey was conducted to rank the importance of the influence factors.

The paper identifies, analyzes and validates the factors and attributes that may impact the installation and maintenance strategy of subsea components. The factors are ranked according to importance and as practiced in the industry.

The research is based on a case study in the Norwegian O&G industry, but the approach and results could be adapted to other industries as well.

The identified factors can be used by decision makers in the development of offshore projects.

This paper aims to provide details of recent developments in robots aimed at applications in the offshore oil and gas industries.

Following a short introduction, this first discusses developments to remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). It then describes the Total-sponsored Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites (ARGOS) robot challenge. This is followed by a discussion of the Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets (ORCA) programme. Finally, brief concluding comments are drawn.

Subsea residency and other techniques are being developed that will enhance the availability and capabilities of AUVs and ROVs and reduce their operating costs. Mobile robots that can operate in harsh topside rig environments to monitor and detect hazards arose from ARGOS and are being developed further prior to commercialisation. Bringing together academics and users, the collaborative ORCA programme is making significant progress in the development of aerial, topside and underwater robotic and sensing technologies for rig asset inspection and maintenance.

This paper identifies and describes key development activities that will stimulate the use of robots by the offshore industries.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a multi-variable analysis (MVA) model for predicting potential delays in the delivery of subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) services.

Based on data from 351 subsea IMR service jobs executed between 2006 and 2008, a MVA model is proposed for predicting the potential delays in the delivery of IMR services in different plausible scenarios.

A model for predicting the delays in IMR service delivery, based on four practical variables that are readily available during the planning phase, was developed and tested. The factors contributing to delays in petroleum subsea IMR services based on importance are: water depth, weather, job complexity, job uncertainty as well as job complexity mix.

The MVA model is developed based on analyzing subsea IMR service jobs performed in the petroleum industry from 2006-2008. The model can be used in the planning stage to predict potential delays in service delivery based on practical variables available.

The research proposes a MVA model for predicting delays in service delivery. The model is useful for predicting potential delays in service delivery and for improving the plan based on model analysis results.

Using the case of the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, I argue that the catastrophe was less an example of a low probability-high catastrophe event than an instance of socially produced risks and insecurities associated with deepwater oil and gas production during the neoliberal period after 1980. The disaster exposes the deadly intersection of the aggressive enclosure of a new technologically risky resource frontier (the deepwater continental shelf) with what I call a frontier of neoliberalized risk, a lethal product of cut-throat corporate cost-cutting, the collapse of government oversight and regulatory authority and the deepening financialization and securitization of the oil market. These two local pockets of socially produced risk and wrecklessness have come to exceed the capabilities of what passes as risk management and energy security. In this sense, the Deepwater Horizon disaster was produced by a set of structural conditions, a sort of rogue capitalism, not unlike those which precipitated the financial meltdown of 2008. The forms of accumulation unleashed in the Gulf of Mexico over three decades rendered a high-risk enterprise yet more risky, all the while accumulating insecurities and radical uncertainties which made the likelihood of a Deepwater Horizon type disaster highly overdetermined.

The chapter considers the significance of the oil and gas industry for the Russian economy. The authors analyze the current state of the oil and gas industry, their specific weight in the structure of Russian GDP, and tax revenues from this industry to the Russian budget that was estimated. We give scenario analysis that considers the problems that the Russian economy may face because of the sanctions, the price fluctuations at the commodity market, and the crisis phenomena in the world economy. The chapter points out that localization of technology production and development of technologies for offshore oil and gas production in the Arctic zone may become an incentive to further ensure import substitution for Russia. At present, the experience of Arctic defense enterprises in the production of equipment for oil and gas production and processing is becoming increasingly popular. The chapter elaborates the most significant examples of the creation of new industries in the Arctic zone, the prospects of seismic exploration on the Arctic shelf, and that localization of production capacities and service bases will allow obtaining a multiplicative incentive for a qualitatively new industrial and infrastructure development of the northern territories. Also, we provide an assessment of the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, which makes economically attractive use of natural gas on a regional level as LNG opens the way to fuel high-power needs and to long-distance transport.

The paper aims to provide the prospects and challenges of cooperation concerning natural gas (NG) resources between the European Union (EU) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), based on a “critical review” of the current state of the GCC region regarding NG production, consumption, trading movements, policy framework and existing/planned projects and programs for each GCC country individually.

The methodological four‐steps approach adopted is based on the context of the project “Creation and Operation of an EU‐GCC Clean Energy Network” (www.eugcc‐cleanergy.net). This paper summarizes the dynamic NG supply/demand situation in the GCC countries in a structured way, touching upon some pertinent policy issues and relating specific projects.

The key finding of the paper is the assessment of GCC countries' potential for future collaboration, especially with the EU. The collaboration opportunities, based on a detailed overview of existing and planned practices in the GCC countries, linking the policy to the practical commercial level, as well as the national system context is elaborated.

To the best of their knowledge, a study focused on the EU‐GCC cooperation for NG is not present in the literature. This study highlights how policy measures differ depending on the supply/demand situation of a particular country, bringing a unique perspective on how diverse the GCC region really is. Moreover, based on the specific energy projects presented, the policy level is linked to the practical commercial level. The presented approach and the related outcomes support the policy makers to enable the environment needed for concrete NG cooperation actions of mutual benefit for both regions.