Goliat FPSO

Norne FPSO

TMR4225 Marine Operations

Lecture Notes #7b – OFFSHORE LOADING OPERATIONS
Adjunct Professor Kjell Larsen, February 20th 2020
 Content
• Offshore Loading Systems – an overview
- Concepts for mild environments
- Offloading in harsh environments
- (Offloading of LNG and in Arctic Conditions)
• Operational Procedures and Risk Managment
- Risk vs Cost
• Static and dynamic stability considerations of
sway/yaw motions
• Rules and Regulations
• Simplified exercises

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 Syllabus related to lecture #7b-
Offshore Loading Operations

• Lecture Notes in Marine Operations by Finn Gunnar Nielsen

- Text : Chapter 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3

Norne FPSO
New OLS system

𝐹𝑦 (𝜓) 𝑦, 𝜂2
𝐹𝑒 𝑙0
𝑀(𝜓) 𝜓, 𝜂6

𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

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 Export of products from offshore to market
Liquid products :
- stabilised crude oil (octane (C8) and heavier) - ambient temp end pressure
- condensate (light crude (pentane (C5)-heptane (C7)) – ambient temp and pressure
- liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (liquid propane (C3) and butane (C4)) – pressurised
- liquefied natural gas (LNG) (liquid metane (C1) and etane (C2) – cooled to -162 degC)
- coming up in new value chains: liquefied CO2 and liquefied ammonia (NH3)

Gas products :
- dry gas (metane (C1))
- compressed natural gas (CNG) (metane (C1)

Transport to market:
Gas products : by pipelines
Liquid products :
a) by shuttle tankers to market
b) by pipelines and shuttle tankers

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 Gas pipeline
infrastructure –
GassCo in North Sea

https://www.gassco.no/en/

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 The Offshore Offloading Task
Oil and Gas Processing
and Storage

Stabilised Oil Export

- direct to shuttle tanker
- or indirect over separate buoys

Oil and Gas

Production Flow

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 The Offshore Offloading Task – important restrictions
Size of Storage

Weather on Site
Shuttle Tanker Capabilities
(station keeping, onboard equipment)
Operability requirements

Oil Production Rate

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Categorisation of Shuttle Tankers-
propulsion and offloading equipment
«Tailormade» with a bow loading system (BLS) and/or a
submerged turret loading (STL) system for oil import.
Equipped with thrusters and DP 2 station keeping capabilities
BLS

Main Tunnel STL Tunnel

Screw thrusters thrusters

«Market tanker». Midship manifold for oil import.

Only main screw and rudder for manouvering – need assistance from separate tugs.

Midship
manifold

Main
Screw

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 It is basically an assessment of Cost vs Risk

a)

Example is
offloading in
Long distance is driving the COST West Africa :
a) Export via a buoy
Close proximity operations are driving the RISK b) Direct export in
tandem with tug
b) assistance

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 Global Overview

Arctic :
Special precausions using
«ice breaker» tankers

North Sea – New Foundland :

Harsh weather operations
using «tailormade tankers»

West Africa and Brazil :

Typically mild weather operations
using «market tankers»

The Choice of Offloading concept is dependent on geography because of weather conditions

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 North Sea Oil Offloading Concepts -
the old facilities
Gravity based, fixed concrete structures
Statfjord, Gullfaks, Draugen :
- Offloading station 3000m away from platform
- Designed for using articulated towers (SPM)
- Today OLS (Offshore-Loading-System) is used
- «Tailormade shuttle tankers» with BLS and DP 2

New OLS system

«Old» SPM system

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North Sea Oil Offloading Concepts –
the special concepts
(1) Direct shuttle loading at Heidrun TLP
- STL offloading station 3000m away from platform
(2) Direct shuttle loading from at fixed unit
- In operation from the Chestnut/Hummingbird FPSO
- Novel system for Goliat and Aasta Hansteen SPAR
(3) Singel Anchor Loading (SAL); weather vaning round the
anchor

«Tailormade shuttle tankers» with BLS and DP 2 required

(2) (1)

(3)

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North Sea Oil Offloading – Tandem : the state-of-art
Direct shuttle loading at the stern of a weather vaning ship
(FPSO)
- Separation distance 70-90 m
- «Tailormade shuttle tankers» with BLS and DP 2 required
- Free-hanging submerged loading hose
- Hawser connection
Åsgard A
Hose storage Norne FPSO
alongside in a chute
Typical limit for connection:
Hs=3.5-4.5m
Typical limit for disconnection:
Hs=5.5m

Close proximity
operations
..or aft on a reel…

From model test of Volve FSO

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 Telemetry system and «GREEN LINE»
• The telemetry system is a radiobased safety system that automatically
monitors the transfer of oil from the oil production unit to the shuttle
tanker.
«GREEN LINE» is an important part of this system. Criteria to
automatically stop the oil transfer are a part of the system.
Export pump Crude oil Hose end Flow rate &
Hydraulic power valve valve Pressure
FPSO Shuttle tanker
Mooring
hawser In board
valves

Loading
hose Every item must be
GREEN LINE : OK (green) if oil transfer
Power supply & Crude oil Hawser Hose in position & Pressure and oil In board
shall be performed
Gas NOT
detected Hydraulic pressure Valve OPEN CONNECTED Hose end valve flow rate OK valves OPEN
OK OPEN

Emergency shut-downs (ESDs) :

ESD 1 : Stop oil flow (pumps) and close valves. ESD 2 : ESD 1 + disconnect shuttle tanker

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 Example of offset requirements for the shuttle tanker
offloading the Volve storage tanker in a tandem operation

Stern of
Volve FSO Green area shows
the acceptable
window area for the
bow hose manifold of
the shuttle tanker

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 Typical Offloading Hose
Diameter : 20 inch
Length : 120m (tandem)
each element appr 15m
Flowrate : 10000m3/h
Material : Bonded rubber and
synthetics (steel for flanges)
Designed to be submerged or floating
Design pressure : 20 bars

Design case ?

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West-Africa and Brazil Operations –
Buoy Loading
-Shuttle tanker: «Market tanker»
CALM Buoy -One or two tugs for manouvering assistance
-Floating hose (one or two)
Shuttle tanker

Offloading from CALM (Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring) Buoy

Dalia and Girassol offshore Angola

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West Africa and Brazil Operations –
Buoy Loading II

Export line :
a) Mid-water submerged : exposed to dynamic loads
b) On bottom: expensive in deep water

Tug :
a) Assistance during all phases of operation due to manouverability and safety

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 West Africa and Brazil – more concepts

-Tandem with tug assist

Espardarte FPSO – Brazil

- Tanker with astern thrust

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Side-by-side loading – West Africa
Sanha FPSO – LPG Loading

Typical SIMO/SIMA simulation model includes :

- Hydrodynamic coupling effects between vessels
- Water motion in «gap»
- Tension in mooring lines and compression in fenders

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Offshore Loading of LNG (..and CO2 and NH3)
Technology qualification on-going
Aerial hoses for LNG transfer
Side-by-side loading

Tandem with aerial LNG hoses

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The Arctic Tandem Offloading Terminal (ATOT)
• In connection with recurring interest in Arctic waters, the drive has been on to find
solutions to various marine solutions in the area.
• Equinor has since 1996 been working on various solutions for export of oil from
both ice infested Russian and Canadian/US Arctic waters.

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 Concept principle
• System
inspired by
Russian ice
breaker escorts

• A moored
Offloading Ice
Breaker (OIB)
serves as
loading buoy

• An ice breaking
tanker attaches
to OIB for
loading of oil.

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 Tanker approach in drifting ice conditions

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Overall system overview
 Risk Management
• The risks : Collision, Oil Spills and Fire
• Towards installation : Collision Risk
- Experiences : 6 collisions and 4 near
misses during tandem offloading in the Njord B : Shuttle tanker collision 61 MJ
North Sea during last 15 years (2
Statoil incidents; Norne 2000, Njord B
2006)
- Norne : flare tower supporting
structure suffered damage
Norne flare tower : 30-40MJ
• Away from installation :
- Hose rupture and oil spill risk
- In 2007 a rupture in the OLS hose
of Statfjord A resulted in around 4400
m3 of crude oil pumped into the sea

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Statfjord Hose Rupture due to Pressure Surge
 Incidents with shuttle tankers on
Norwegian Continental Shelf 2000-2011

*) Data taken from :

ISOPE conference 2012 :
«Position Incidents during Offshore Loading
with Shuttle Tankers on Norwegian Continental Shelf
2000-2011» by Kvitrud et.al.

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 Tandem Offloading Phases –
Risks dependent on concept selected

• APPROACH – from appr 3000m to 250m away.

• CONNECTION – Hawser and hose connection.
• OFFLOADING – 15-35 hour duration dependent on rate and size.
• DISCONNECTION and DEPARTURE.

Typical estimates of frequency of collision during offloading :

• Tandem Offloading using «tailormade» DP2 tankers :
Collision frequency estimate : 0,02-0,05 per year (H. Chen, 2013)
Causes mainly related to DP system failures
• Tandem Offloading of «market tankers» using tug assistance :
Collision frequency estimate : 0,003 per year (K. Larsen, 1999)
Causes mainly related to tanker blackout, tug blackout and tug towline failure

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Sway-Yaw stability of a single point moored tanker
- static and dynamic assessment

Hawser Mooring
𝑦, 𝜂2 , 𝐹𝑦 (𝜓)
𝑙0
𝐹𝑒
𝑥, 𝜂1
𝜓, 𝜂6 , 𝑀(𝜓)
𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

𝐹𝑒 : weather forces (wind, current and wave drift) in surge x-dir

𝑙0 : length of hawser
𝐹0 : mean force in hawser
𝐹𝑦 (𝜓) : mean weather forces on tanker in sway (dependent on vessel heading, 𝜓)
𝑀(𝜓) : mean weather moment in yaw (dependent on vessel heading, 𝜓)

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Sway-Yaw stability of a single point moored tanker
- STATIC assessment of hawser mooring
𝑙0
𝐹𝑒
𝑦, 𝜂2 = 1 Sway
𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

Requirement – STATIC Equilibrium:

𝐾22 𝐾26 𝑑𝑀 𝑑𝐹𝑦
𝐷𝑒𝑡 >0⇒ +𝑎 <0 𝑦, 𝜂2
𝐾62 𝐾66 𝑑𝜓 𝑑𝜓 𝐹𝑦 (𝜓)
𝐹𝑒
𝑙0 Yaw
𝜓, 𝜂6 = 1
𝑀(𝜓)

𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)
𝐹0 𝐹0
𝐾22 = 𝐾62 = − ⋅𝑎
STATIC equilibrium - equation: 𝑙0 𝑙0
𝐾22 𝐾26 𝜂2 𝐹𝑦 (𝜓) 𝑎 𝑑𝐹𝑦 𝑎 𝑑𝑀
∙ 𝜂 = 𝐾26 = −𝐹0 +1 − 𝐾66 = 𝐹0 ∙ 𝑎 +1 −
𝐾62 𝐾66 6 𝑀(𝜓) 𝑙0 𝑑𝜓 𝑙0 𝑑𝜓

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Example : Shuttle tanker in Tandem –
Static stability check
𝐹𝑦 (𝜓) 𝑦, 𝜂2
𝐹𝑒 𝑙0
𝑀(𝜓) 𝜓, 𝜂6

𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

𝑴
𝑭𝒚

𝐹𝑦 (𝜓) 𝑀(𝜓)

𝑭𝒚

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Example : Shuttle tanker in Tandem –
Static stability check
𝐹𝑦 (𝜓) 𝑦, 𝜂2
𝐹𝑒 𝑙0
𝑀(𝜓) 𝜓, 𝜂6

𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

Note : dFy /dψ dFy /dψ dM/dψ dM/dψ

V=1m/s (kN/deg) (kN/rad) (kNm/deg) (kNm/rad)
Strøm -1,96E+01 -1,12E+03 1,59E+03 9,13E+04
From the curves previous slide :
Vind -1,75E-02 -1,00E+00 -1,17E+00 -6,69E+01

𝑑𝑀 𝑑𝐹𝑦
Characteristics of the ship : 𝐿𝑝𝑝 =246m Stability requirement: +𝑎 <0
𝑎=130m 𝑑𝜓 𝑑𝜓

STATIC stability check, current only (Vc= 1m/s): 9,13E+04 *1*1+ a*(-1,12E+03*1*1)<0 ➔ a> 81,3m --- OK !

STATIC stability check, wind only (Vw= 30m/s): -6,69E+01 *30*30+ a*(-1,0E+00*30*30)<0 ➔ a> -66,7m --- OK !

STATIC stability check, wind and current (Vc=1m/s, Vw= 30m/s):

(-6,69E+01*30*30+9,13E+04*1*1)+a*(-1,00E+00*30*30-1,12E+03*1*1)<0 ➔ a>15,3m --- OK !

➔ Due to the stabilising effect from the wind, the shuttle tanker is always sway/yaw stable

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Sway-Yaw : Dynamic Stability (fish-tailing)
- stability assessment of low-frequency sway and yaw motions
Hawser Mooring
𝑦, 𝜂2 , 𝐹𝑦 (𝜓)
𝑙0
𝐹𝑒
𝑥, 𝜂1
𝜓, 𝜂6 , 𝑀(𝜓)
𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

DYNAMIC equilibrium - equation:

𝑚22 0 𝜂ሷ 𝐾 𝐾26 𝜂2 𝐹𝑦 (𝜓)
∙ 2 + 22 ∙ 𝜂 =
0 𝑚66 𝜂ሷ 6 𝐾62 𝐾66 6 𝑀(𝜓)
(damping neglected) 𝐾22 , 𝐾26 , 𝐾62 , 𝐾66 as given before

Dynamic stability requirement :

Sway/yaw motions do not grow in amplitude after excitation is removed➔
−𝟏
𝒎𝟐𝟐 𝟎 𝑲𝟐𝟐 𝑲𝟐𝟔
Eigenvalues to 𝜴 = must be real and negative.
𝟎 𝒎𝟔𝟔 𝑲𝟔𝟐 𝑲𝟔𝟔

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Dynamic Stability Basic requirement : Static stability must be satisfied!

Single point mooring with hawser :

Stability determined by the force in the hawser and the length of the hawser :

Hawser Mooring
𝑦, 𝜂2 , 𝐹𝑦 (𝜓)
𝑙0
Hawser tension 𝐹𝑒 𝑥, 𝜂1
𝜓, 𝜂6 , 𝑀(𝜓)
𝐹 𝐹0 (−𝑎, 0)

𝐹𝑐𝑟
From «Lecture Notes in
Marine Operations» by
Finn Gunnar Nielsen, Ch 4.3

Unstable if
𝐹0 < 𝐹𝑐𝑟 and
𝑙0 > 𝑙𝑐𝑟

𝑙𝑐𝑟 Hawser length, 𝑙

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 Rules and Regulations

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 Relevant Illustration Videos
• Norne FPSO :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJW62oOeENU
• Pusnes tandem :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRN8gn2rXAI

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 End Lecture Foils –Offshore Loading
Operations, Lecture #7b

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