Due to their low fabrication and installation costs, there has
been a trend in recent years to use Minimum Facility Platforms (MFPs)
for the "fast track" development of marginal oil and gas
fields in water depths of up to 60 m. Compared to traditional
jackets, minimum structures are characterised by a slender layout,
low stiffness, and a low level of redundancy. There are concerns that
these structures may be very sensitive to damage and defects which
may occur due to design, construction or operational errors. There is
therefore a need to understand the performance of these structures
with regard to reliability, life-cycle costs and risks, so that
informed decisions can be made about their feasibility for a
particular field development.
The Joint Industry Project was set up with the overall objective of
evaluating and comparing the system reliability levels of three
minimum structures against a standard four-pile jacket under extreme
storm, fatigue and ship collision conditions. The study also
considered the potential for errors due to human and organisational
factors during design, construction, and operation of minimum
structures, and to quantify their effect on the reliability of these
structures. The structural concepts considered are: (i) 3-pile
Monotower, (ii) Vierendeel Tower, (iii) Braced Caisson, and (iv) a
conventional 4-pile
Jacket.
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