Risk assessment and safety regulations in offshore oil and gas industry

Abstract

Risk management of which risk assessment is part, and safety regulations are common
in the offshore oil and gas industry management system. The process of conducting
risk assessment is mostly a challenge for operational personnel assigned to perform
this function. The most significant problem is the decision to use the appropriate tool
or technique in conducting risk assessment and evaluation. The safety regulatory
authorities and standards agencies in various countries are making frantic effort to
incorporate risk assessment into their laws to mainly help governments protect their
environments as well as personnel's life. This paper present a tool or technique used for
effective risk assessment, the UK safety regulation perspective which was at the back of
the Lord Cullen recommendation after Piper Alpha incident and practical approach for
risk assessment. The methodology used was the review of the risk assessment conducted
on the Escravo gas facility. The process included the use quantitative risk assessment
technique which involved the use of checklist for risk identification and risk matrix for
ranking of risk, based on probabilistic approach.