Marine Growth on North Sea Fixed Steel Platforms: Insights From the Decommissioning Industry

It is reputed in the Oil & Gas industry that marine growth is overestimated in the North Sea. Can we quantify this overestimation to better tackle the challenges marine growth incurs?This paper provides insight into the intrinsic and diverse nature of marine growth. It documents the biofouling development and the factors that affect it globally. Focus is made on fixed steel platforms in the North Sea approaching the end of their economic lives. A methodology to quantify the weight of marine growth is proposed and illustrated. 28 years after its installation, the weight of marine growth accumulated on Valhall 2/4G jacket located in Southern North Sea is evaluated based on the proposed method. It is confirmed that the current regulations overestimate the weight of marine growth in the North Sea.Copyright © 2014 by ASME