Oil and natural gas, which today account for over 60% of the world’s energy supply, are often produced by offshore platforms. One third of all oil and gas comes from the offshore sector. However, offshore oil and gas installations are generally considered intrinsically vulnerable to deliberate attacks. The changing security landscape and concerns about the threats of terrorism and piracy to offshore oil and gas installations are major issues for energy companies and governments worldwide. But, how common are attacks on offshore oil and gas installations? Who attacks offshore installations? Why are they attacked? How are they attacked? How is their security regulated at the international level? How has the oil industry responded? This timely and first of its kind publication answers these questions and examines the protection and security of offshore oil and gas installations from a global, industry-wide and company-level perspective. Looking at attacks on offshore installations that occurred throughout history of the offshore petroleum industry, it examines the different types of security threats facing offshore installations, the factors that make offshore installations attractive targets, the nature of attacks and the potentially devastating impacts that can result from attacks on these important facilities. It then examines the international legal framework, state practice and international oil and gas industry responses that aim to address this vital problem. Crucially, the book includes a comprehensive dataset of attacks and security incidents involving offshore oil and gas installations entitled the Offshore Installations Attack Dataset (OIAD). This is an indispensable reference work for oil and gas industry professionals, company security officers, policy makers, maritime lawyers and academics worldwide.

"This monograph explores the safety and security risks associated with the massive expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation activity in the Asia-Pacific region. The pursuit of national and commercial objectives is generating the convergence of wider interests and uncertainties, and therefore significant and often shared risks. Risk mitigating options for action are presented that need to be urgently and collaboratively considered by all stakeholders." --Back cover.

Offshore Installation Practice describes the main requirements and applications for safe offshore installation and operation. This book discusses the arrangements to be accepted by national and international classification and certification authorities with respect to flare systems, fuel gas and crude oil burning, fire protection, fire detection and extinction, heat exchangers, and piping design. The importance of life-support systems is also highlighted. This book is comprised of 18 chapters and begins by introducing the reader to offshore gas and oil production platforms, with emphasis on safety considerations for fixed drilling/production platforms, produced fluid systems, and the gas injection compression system. The discussion then turns to piping systems; fuel gas and crude-oil burning arrangements; flare systems; and equipment for offshore-related projects, such as storage tankers and barges, compensator systems, and floating production and storage units. The chapters that follow focus on safety shutdown systems; the design of submersibles and diving equipment; and the basic principles of fire protection systems. This book concludes by considering the regulatory requirements for the prevention of oil pollution arising from offshore oil and gas exploration. This monograph will be useful as a reference work for those engaged in the design and installation of offshore units.

This title was first published n 2000: The most recent developments in occupational health and safety regulation in the UK’s offshore oil industry represent a departure from traditional legal forms. But how should they best be understood and what advantages do they offer over the previous regulatory approaches? Informed by autopoiesis theory, this study takes seriously the notion of an empirical field constituted by diverse communicative systems and thus traces the development of the industry along a series of dimensions including those of management and engineering as well as of politics and regulation. Adapting cognitive mapping, the book offers graphic demonstrations of the resultant constructive misunderstandings of regulatory and scientific signals and accordingly an alternative perspective on the nature of risk. The latest regulatory developments are shown to possess the potential to address these issues but only insofar as they are understood as distinct from previous legal forms and in particular as an example of reflexive law.