Risk assessment of offshore platforms

A brief summary is presented of the development of Quantified Risk Analysis in the offshore oil and gas industry for more than 30 years. From a modest start in Norway as a research activity, QRA has today become one of the focal points of oil and gas management in all, countries around the North Sea, and also in other areas. The paper discusses how QRAs are used, and examines in this light how methodology developments that are and should be carried out. One of the findings is that QRA studies are used for a variety of applications with far reaching implications for design and operation, but the interest in making sure that the methodology is sufficiently sound, robust and a reflection of reality appears to be somewhat lagging behind. Finally, an alternative approach to quantification of risk to personnel is presented, whereby the traditional averaging of risk exposure is replaced by consideration of 'instantaneous' risk levels. Such modelling of risk to personnel is considered to be more suitable for risk monitoring purposes.