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The paper describes the slope stability analyses carried out for BP's planned developments of the Mad Dog and Atlantis prospects. Both prospects are located along the Sigsbee Escarpment in areas where extensive slumping has taken place. The approach was based on combining geological, geophysical and geotechnical data from field and laboratory testing to develop models for slope stability evaluation. Examples of results are presented, including a brief discussion on how sensitive the results are to the variables in the analytical models.The examples demonstrate how an interdisciplinary approach to the geological and geotechnical modeling renders possible extrapolation and interpolation of geotechnical soil data, and that slopes of heights up to 150 -230 m and slope angles of more than 22° have safety factors in the range 1.1 to 1.5 based on best estimate of soil parameters.

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Goliat is the first oil field to be developed in the Barents Sea, and thus sets the industry standard as activity migrates ever further north. Eni, together with partner Statoil, has chosen to develop the field using Sevan Marine's cylindrical FPSO concept. This FPSO is designed for operations under the challenging conditions encountered in the Barents Sea and is equipped to meet the strict environmental requirements stipulated for operations in the Arctic climate. The FPSO is moored using 14 suction anchors, with 6 anchors in the west cluster, 4 in the north cluster and 4 in the southeast cluster. The soil layers of relevance for the suction anchor design are a surface layer of very soft sandy clay and a soft to firm slightly sandy clay with some gravel to at least 20 m depth. All 14 suction anchors were designed with the same geometry to allow flexibility during the installation phase. The anchor holding capacity was evaluated using Finite Element analyses. The successful installation of the suction anchors was performed in spring 2013 to allow hookup of the FPSO as planned. This paper describes details of the suction anchor design and installation process as a reference for further work in Arctic regions.

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