Cost recovery for offshore activities - A guide

Contents

• Part 1 - Cost recovery arrangements
• Part 2 - Illustrative examples of fees payable

Part 2: Illustrative examples of fees payable

This part contains examples of the level of activity that HSE anticipates it will devote to the examination of safety cases and provides an indicator of time spent on planned inspection for the offshore industry. This information has been provided to help duty holders estimate their individual charge under these regulations.  Costs are also recoverable for reactive work such as investigation activity.

Duty holders are asked to bear in mind that these examples may not be typical of their own business and the effort expended by HSE will be dependent on the quality of the safety case submitted or the type and depth of inspection required.

Acceptance of safety cases

Example 1 - New production installation

A new semi-submersible floating production unit which produces oil and gas via subsea flowlines from a number of nearby wells. Oil, produced at up to 60,000 bpd, is exported by pipeline to the shore. Gas is exported to a nearby platform at up to 40 MMscfd. Persons on board (POB) 35 - 40. The assessment process took 110 days (equivalent to 814 hours).

Example 2 - New production installation

A Novel cylindrical Floating production Storage Offloading (FPSO) installation located in the North Sea. This installation has an oil storage capacity of 270,000 bbls with an oil process capacity of 30,000 bbls/day and water injection capacity of 20,000 bbls/day. The FPSO accommodation is designed for 47 persons. Crude oil is offloaded to a dynamically positioned shuttle tanker, no hawser is used and two offloading stations are provided. The assessment process took 150 days (equivalent to 1110 hours).

Example 3 - New production installation

This is a new development in the Central North Sea. It is a twin jacketed structure with production and processing on one platform and quarters and utilities on the adjacent bridge linked platform. There are no drilling facilities. A number of subsea developments are tied back to the installation. Oil is produced at 48,000 bpd with natural gas liquids at 40,000 bpd. The complex has a POB of approximately 80. The assessment process took 85 days (equivalent to 629 hours).

Example 4 - New production installation

A new normally-unattended installation on a gas field located in the Southern North Sea. The installation is controlled from a terminal onshore. The installation is capable of producing up to 50 MMscm per day. When attended, the maximum POB would be 12. The assessment process took 18 days (equivalent to 133 hours).

Example 5 - New non production installation

A fourth generation semi-submersible drilling unit with deep water drilling capabilities. POB average 90. The assessment process took 38 days (equivalent to 281 hours).

Inspection

For one offshore inspection, a single inspector is likely to recover costs of around 10 man days on average.  So a typical inspection team of 3 inspectors would be 30 man days on average per an inspection and installations will be inspected anything between 0 and 2 times per year.