Design for high performance assurance for offshore production facilities in remote harsh and sensitive environments

During the last years there has been increasing interest in developing oil and gas fields in the Barents Sea north of the Polar circle, in the Arctic. However, there exists little experience and data with respect to operating in such a harsh climate, a sensitive environment and remote location. Hence, it is expected that one will face many challenges in developing offshore production facilities with respect to production regularity. The aim of this paper is to discuss production regularity for production facilities used in Arctic conditions and locations. Furthermore, we propose a model for decision-making with respect to regularity during the design phase. The model highlights important aspects to consider when deciding on what equipment to choose for achieving the regularity goals in the Arctic.