(81a) Utilizing Quantified Risk Assessment in the Offshore Oil & Gas Industry to Support the Principles of Inherent Safety and Continuous Risk Reduction

As part of its global operational management system, OMS, BP has undertaken to drive the principles of inherently safer design and continuous risk reduction into its operations, and these processes are underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the factors which affect major accident risk. This effort includes the use of the Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) technique. While Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) has become an important technique for assessment and management of major accident hazards in the process industries, there has been limited application of the technique to offshore drilling and production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

This paper presents how quantified risk assessment techniques combined with state of the art fire and blast effects modeling was utilized to assess the potential fire & blast hazards associated with BP's deepwater assets in the GoM. A key feature of this work was the identification of areas where additional mitigation measures could be incorporated into the facility to reduce these risks; examples of where risk assessment techniques were utilized to support the understanding and reduction of fire & blast risks associated with the operation of the facilities will be presented. The paper will also discuss some of the aspects of performing QRA that are unique to the offshore environment.