Corrosion or Corrosion Management: Which one is the Bigger Threat to the Integrity of an Offshore Platform?

Corrosion is regarded as the biggest threat to the integrity of any offshore platform in the North Sea. The existence of this constant and significant threat has expedited our appreciation and improved our understanding of various corrosion mechanisms and different corrosive environments currently being encountered in this region over the past few decades. In spite of this seemingly adequate and growing knowledge about corrosion its control and mitigation; still a great majority of the incidents, failures and leaks encountered in the offshore -oil and gas sector- are due to corrosion. This baffling observation could imply that while understanding of corrosion has significantly improved over the years, handling corrosion or its management has not progressed with the same pace. This can simply suggest that those people in charge of integrity or corrosion management are not efficiently and adequately utilising the already-acquired corrosion lessons in dealing with similar corrosion scenarios. This paper looks into the human factors which can adversely affect corrosion management onboard an offshore installation. It initially discusses the factors that would affect corrosion management at the design stage and then focuses on those which are influential after commissioning. This paper also provides a basic understanding about corrosion itself and its various mechanisms. Corrosion types have been divided into 10 different categories and further subcategories for clarification and better understanding. In the end, it has been concluded that the recurrence of corrosion-related failures in the offshore sector are more due to a poor and inadequate corrosion management rather than corrosion itself.

Keywords:

Corrosion Management , Platform , Sea Media , Corrosion Control