Deepwater drilling and production have been revolutionized by increasingly advanced technology in recent years, making high-performance and dependable solutions even more important. This is because, in the harsh environments presented by the offshore world, the requirement for equipment to operate safely and effectively while providing peace of mind is becoming more challenging. Fire protection is a critical part of onboard safety, and reducing the risk of fire hazards is a vital and challenging part of designing and engineering offshore oil and gas installations. Corrosion-free rubber-based solutions can be the key to ensuring that people, structures and equipment are protected.

Going above and beyond
Though technology has advanced to better address the changing environment, customers still require superior, cost-effective solutions with an increased focus on longer life. Customers once required products that could last 20 years, but now it’s often up to 40 years.

For optimum fire safety, choosing the most suitable material is imperative. Rubber-based material is, not surprisingly, becoming a more popular choice within the offshore industry due to its flexibility and durability.

Compared to alternative materials such as steel, ceramic wool or fiberglass, rubber can withstand more extreme temperatures, weather conditions and vessel movements and offers an exceptionally high durability. It is a diverse material that can damp, seal and protect, and most of all, it has an extremely long lifetime.

Safety first
In increasingly challenging environments, it’s no surprise that onboard safety is a key priority for the offshore oil and gas industry. Ensuring this safety is paramount and is becoming more difficult.

Critical to delivering onboard safety are advanced fire protection systems, whether referring to the platform’s surface protection, an onboard deluge system or coating for the pipes and flanges, for example. The performance of these is essential for the safety of personnel, asset protection and preventing event escalation.

In the offshore oil and gas sector where the risk of rapid fire spread is great, firestop solutions need to provide full assurance to the
onboard team that they will not fail to protect against fire. If damage is caused, costly shutdowns and repairs would be required. In the worst-case scenario, the platform may fail altogether.

The harsh offshore weather environment causes metal products and components to be susceptible to rust and corrosion, which can be detrimental to the performance and function of the platform. Additionally, ceramic wool and similar materials used for fire protection will become less effective when wet. This simply isn’t an option as demands offshore become greater.

Passive fire protection
Firestop solutions are available in a series of materials and products to protect personnel, equipment, critical components and structures and to assist emergency response activity by buying time to gain control of the fire and evacuate the area. With proven engineering and manufacturing techniques for protection of all kinds of fires, from simple cellulose to hydrocarbon and jet fire, the rubber materials consist of layers and meet corrosion, thermal, fire and mechanical protection requirements, protecting structures from exceeding temperature limits.

Rubber has the unique capability of being able to withstand weather conditions and vessel movements and to provide ease of inspection and fire protection over the life of a project.

It is key that any fire protection specified for use on an offshore facility provides the required fire protection throughout the fire exposure period. In addition, integrity means that protected areas between modules and decks will prevent the spread of flames and hot fumes throughout the fire exposure period.

For some projects there can be the requirement for a protected surface area temperature not to exceed a certain level throughout the fire exposure period. For these types of requirements, insulation materials are used in conjunction with firestop protection. The critical temperature on the surface of a component is project-specific information, with typical values falling in a maximum range of 200-plus C to 400-plus C (392-plus F to 752-plus F). Similarly, in accordance with the U.K. Health and Safety Executive, the generation of smoke and toxic fumes must remain low.

Firestop applications
The platform laydown deck areas are susceptible to regular impact and abrasion due to containers being loaded onto the platform in addition to the harsh offshore elements. A flexible decking material capable of withstanding these conditions is an ideal solution. Rubber provides the corrosion protection in addition to environmental and impact protection, all while maintaining the required fire protection rating.

By avoiding hot work onboard, fire hazards and shutdown requirements can be reduced. Surface protection designs that can be installed using other techniques should be prioritized. Surface tiling should feature insulation to isolate fire temperatures from areas below and should also ensure a nonslip surface for worker safety. Sophisticated coating designs can withstand blasts of up to 30.5 psi and jet/hydrocarbon fires for more than two hours.

The flexibility of a rubber-based tile means that it can take up movement in any direction, reducing the likelihood of cracking. As it is regularly exposed to the sun, it should ensure UV and ozone protection so that it does not damage over time.

Other areas of the topside that should be considered for fire resistance are nuts and bolts used in flanges—one of the weakest areas of any platform. Typical fire protection, which covers the complete fl ange, will not allow easy inspection of the units. By protecting only the nuts, regular inspection can be performed, reducing installation time and overall weight. Using molded rubber-based material on just the flange nuts protects the stud bolts from elongating and the fl ange from breaking the seal during a fire.

A cutaway illustrates how the FireNut protects nuts and bolts from fire. (Source: Trelleborg)

Installing effective and reliable Firestop systems onboard can increase the safety of offshore oil and gas installations. In the harsh offshore and onshore oil and gas industry, operators need the assurance of a material that delivers proven performance without fail.

It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure that it can provide high-performance and reliable solutions, now more than ever. Similarly, operators should look to work with manufacturers that can provide solutions that will guarantee performance and importantly, safety. Operators should have access to the latest and most innovative solutions that will signifi cantly improve onboard safety and provide peace of mind to all those on board.