JIP to investigate offshore leak detection
A new joint industry project, or JIP, is to develop a best practice for designing and implementing offshore leak detection systems, DNV GL, a global ship and offshore classification organization, announced March 18. DNV GL said 20 companies and government regulators are participating in the project.
DNV GL said that, following several offshore oil releases, operators and government authorities have paid increasing attention to the impact of offshore oil and gas activities on the environment. And, as industry attention moves to the Arctic and other environmentally sensitive areas, the question of detecting the leakage of hydrocarbons from offshore facilities is becoming increasingly important, the organization said.
Currently available leak detection sensors tend to have limited application coverage, with some only detecting gas, some providing a high level of sensitivity over small areas, and some covering large areas but with low sensitivity — the challenge is to integrate the existing designs to achieve a complete system that provides the required coverage and sensitivity, without generating frequent false alarms, DNV GL said. And gaps in the design, engineering, commissioning and operation of existing systems need to be filled, the organization said.
Christian Markussen, DNV GL’s business development manager for subsea, said the objective of the JIP is to develop a recommended practice that will ensure safe and environmentally sound operations by limiting hydrocarbon spills through the detection of acute discharges as early as possible after they occur, and with a high level of certainty.
—Alan Bailey
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