A Study on Operational Safety in Offshore Drilling and Production Units

Abstract

In the present paper, operational accidents, which occur during offshore drilling and production operations are carefully studied. Data were collected from literature for those operations and each accident was classified according to related operations and carefully analyzed. After that, each accident was classified according to the operation unit where it happened, i.e., drilling, completion, production and workover type unit. Classifying the accidents and analyzing the obtained results has shown that more than half of them are related to offshore petroleum production unit operations, followed by those related to drilling rig operations. The remaining observed cases are related to workover exploration and completion units. The evaluation of operational accidents in offshore petroleum drilling and production units could clarify the behavior of operational safety, particularly variations along the years. It was possible to identify the main factors that contribute to the increase of the number of those accidents in offshore units, as well as, the consequences of each accident. Finally, such procedures provided useful information that can assist engineers in making decisions improving operational safety programs for offshore drilling and production unit operations.