Evaluation of the Norwegian Major Hazard Risk Management Approach for Offshore Installations in the Concept Selection Phase

The current risk management regulatory approach for the Norwegian offshore petroleum industry came into effect in 2001, but relatively few new installations were decided after 2001 for development until quite recently. Since 2012, there have been several new installations that are being planned or have reached front-end engineering design (FEED) or engineering phases. This paper considers the risk management approach in the pre-FEED phase and builds on some case studies selected from the most recent cases. The main principles for major hazard risk management in this phase are summarized, and the experience from the case studies is discussed with respect to establishing how well they have functioned. It is demonstrated that the risk reduction approach is not as effective as it could have been. The paper proposes some improvements to the regulatory approach to risk reduction in the pre-FEED phase in order to make improvements to the management of major hazard risk and to achieve installation concepts that are more robust in relation to changes and additional requirements during the field lifetime.