Survey of reliability of offshore oil and gas infrastructure in South Baltic conditions

Abstract

The development of the hydrocarbon resources of the Kaliningrad Region shelf has been carried out systematically since the late 1980s. In the existing offshore oil and gas infrastructure of the region should be mentioned drilling platforms (C-9 and D-6), an underwater oil pipeline from the D-6 platform to the Romanovo oil collection point, the Pionersky marine regasification terminal. The experience of operating these infrastructure facilities shows that despite the low salinity of the Baltic Sea and the practical absence of ice conditions in this area, oil and gas infrastructure objects are subject to significant technical degradation. The existing offshore pipeline, which transports oil from the D-6 platform, is influenced by a complex of external factors, internal corrosion and erosion wear associated with sulphur compounds, oxygen, and the presence of abrasive particles. The study presents a factor analysis of the causes of corrosion wear of infrastructure oil and gas facilities on the shelf of the Kaliningrad region, analyses the dynamics of the processes of physical and chemical degradation of equipment surfaces. Various solutions of the reliability ensuring of these units in marine conditions are considered. The results of observations of corrosion and erosion processes in the oil and gas infrastructure of the Kaliningrad Region shelf should be taken into consideration during the development of project documentation and the selection of equipment and materials for new projects being implemented (offshore oilfield development project D-6 South and D-33).