The Risk-Based Verification of Subsea Blowout Preventer System

Abstract

An enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster in 1998 led to a new approach of goal setting safety legislation which forms the framework adopted by offshore regulators especially United Kingdom, to address and manage risks of Major Accident Hazards (MAH). This enhanced the concept of verification in general and Risk Based Verification (RBV) in particular. This paper presents the application of this concept of verification to the Blowout Preventer (BOP) which undoubtedly is the final line of defense against major accident of a blowout in offshore drilling for the management of MAHs. This research begins with a review of current trends in offshore safety regulations, a discussion on the concept of verification principles, benefits and RBV. A RBV framework is proposed for the management of hazards in a blowout preventer system. The BOP system is adequately explained followed by a demonstration of the applicability of proposed framework on the system with major accident hazards and Safety critical elements (SCEs) listed. The blind shear ram was found to be the most critical component i.e. SCE in the BOP system which is very much in line with the requirement for the verification of a shear rams. Finally, both the benefits and the limitations of RBV in offshore applications are highlighted