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The industry of oil and gas are blooming in a rapid rate as time goes by because of the massive use of fuel oil and natural gas in this age of time. However, as more fuel oil are produced the industry is moving away from onshore to offshore and towards the ultra-deep-water region, where vessel like FSOs are introduced. FSO are short for Floating Storage and Offloading which are vessels used in deep water operation. The FSO plays an important role in the business where a single disastrous incident will affect the industry and the company. The focus of the research will be on the FSO that holds million barrels of crude oil. In this work, fire risk analysis is used to assess the crude oil storage tank on a typical FSO as this is a relatively new mode in exploration and production (E&P) activity. By calculating the individual risk per annum (IRPA) and potential loss of life (PLL), methods are introduced to mitigate fire risk on FSOs. The results show that the level of failure is low and requires less action for the FSO crude oil storage tank to stay safe during operation in the offshore environment.

Inherent safety (IS) is a proactive approach for safety management during process plant design and operation. It has been proven that, considering the lifetime costs of a process and its operation, an inherently safer approach is an environmentally friendly and cost-optimal option. IS can be incorporated at any stage of design and operation. However, application of IS is highly effective at the early design stage. In this work, incorporation of IS in designing offshore oil and gas (O&G) drilling operations is successfully done to achieve risk reduction. Some of offshore hazards/concerns including highly flammable substances, possible harsh weather conditions, toxic gas i.e. hydrogen sulphide and congested platforms and rigs layout are challenging to overcome especially during emergency responses. Based on this knowledge, we intend to exploit the versatility of the principles of IS for the purpose of achieving risk reduction in relation to offshore O&G drilling operations. As for hazard identification, HAZID is chosen while relevant IS principles – “substitution”, “moderation” and “simplification” are recommended for risk reduction efforts.

Demand for biocomposites are emerging in various applications from industrial to medical. A promising biocomposite is polylactic acid (PLA) and empty fruit bunch (EFB). Therefore, the effect of fiber loading on the mechanical and thermal properties of the biocomposite was investigated. The biocomposites were produced with untreated and treated fiber with loadings ranging from 10 weight (wt)% to 50 wt%. The treated EFB fiber was chemically treated with sodium hydroxide followed by silane to increase compatibility with PLA. Fabrication of the biocomposites was done using an internal mixer and preparation of testing specimens using hot press. It was observed that 10 wt% of fiber loading showed optimum mechanical and thermal values of the biocomposites. More than 10 wt% loading decreased the biocomposites properties as fiber agglomeration occurred within the matrix.