Study on Design Basis for Barents Sea Offshore Oil and Gas Field Facilities

Development of hydrocarbon fields in the Barents Sea would normally include surface process units; thus, we must take into account the potential for ice conditions at the location. Alternatively, smaller fields can be developed as satellites to existing production units. Full well-stream to shore facilities may also be considered for gas fields, in the case that one can document the flow conditions in pipeline(s), so hydrate formation is avoided. Although glacial ice historically has been present all over the Barents Sea, the probability of meeting glacial ice in the southern part is very low, regarded by some as “negligible”. At which latitude one could expect sea and glacial ice in the future is, however, uncertain, as past experience has seen glacial ice on the Coast of Finnmark County and there are ongoing processes related to global warming which might increase the probability of iceberg encounter at southern locations of the Barents Offshore Region. We will discuss concerns related to the selection of the design basis for the Barents Sea, including the Russian part of the Barents Sea, and discuss the term “negligible”. Of particular interest are criteria related to the need for disconnection options for production units. The objective of the presented research is to draw attention to the importance of the design basis, for the proper design of all field facilities. The variability in climate conditions from one year to another should be recognized with particular emphasis on past extremes, which cannot be excluded to appear in the future, even in the case of an Arctic where the average temperatures have been increasing during the last decades. The paper concludes with recommendations for thorough preparation of the design basis for the entire Barents Sea area.