Domino Effect Risk Assessment System for Offshore Oil and Gas Facilities Decommissioning

Abstract

The development of the offshore oil and gas industry has been experienced for more than a century and many offshore facilities are facing the decommissioning challenge. For the reason of offshore facilities are in a harsh ocean environment, the risk assessment and accidental warning technologies involved in the decommissioning process causes attention by industry and academia. Due to the characteristic of high-impact low-probability, domino effect accidents are required to be assessed by the European Union’s Seveso-II Directive, especially when considering the chemical industry risk assessment. However, at present, there is few risks assessment system for the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas facilities. This paper presents a study on the establishment of a Domino Effect risk assessment system for offshore oil and gas facilities’ decommissioning. Compared with the traditional risk assessment system which only conducts a unilateral assessment of certain hazards, this Domino effect risk assessment system combines 7 major hazards with 9 decommissioning procedures in 2 event layers. Meanwhile, a domino event trigger mechanism has been established. The proposed system uses theoretical equations to assess the risks assessment results quickly and accurately.