Perspective on Gas Explosions Risk Offshore; Low historic Gas Explosion Frequencies revealed in North Sea

摘要

Blast loads have come into the focus of offshore safety duringrnthe last years, due to high loads experienced in recent largernscale tests. A comprehensive study has been carried out in orderrnto establish historic frequencies for blast loads on offshorerninstallations. The purpose of the work has been to enablerncalibration of results from quantitative risk assessments, and thernconsideration of what shall be the design basis with respect tornblast loads. The analysis has been based on the total populationrnof production installations in the North Sea, covering a 25 yearrnperiod from 1973. 10 significant explosion incidents werernidentified. All the significant explosions have occurred onrninstallations that were installed offshore before 1980. Comparisonsrnhave been made between ‘old’ and ‘new’ installations.rnThere is a clear downwards trend in the number of explosionsrnper year for the ‘old’ installations, as the time passes. Frequenciesrnare presented in relation to platform years as well asrnexplosion area years, and address also mechanisms such asrnimpairment of explosion barrier and escalation.