Bow-tie Analysis of Underwater Robots in Offshore Oil and Gas Operations

摘要

Deepwater drilling exploration takes place in cold, distant, and extremely high-pressure environments. Itrnposes a great threat to human life and environment, and incurs higher cost of production than conventionalrndrilling operations. To improve efficiency with increased production, offshore oil and gas industryrnintroduced robotics technology in many underwater drilling and production operations. Implementation ofrnrobots also introduced complexity and added risks to the processes. The present study aims at identifyingrnhazards and assessing risks associated with using underwater robots in offshore oil and gas production.rnOnce potential scenarios caused by robotic failures are identified, consequences could be developed, andrnrisk assessment could be done by traditional methods. The specific objectives of the current research are: tornstudy robotics technologies used in offshore platforms primarily, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV);rnto understand their roles and limitations in oil and gas production; to study potential threats leading tornunderwater robot-robot collision or robot-structure collision; to evaluate all possible consequences due torncollision; to recommend necessary safety barriers for identified threats.