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Industry Overview

Site Investigation Planning &


Geohazard Assessment

Mark Finch Head of Geotechnical


LR Senergy Survey & GeoEngineering

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Agenda

Overview of Offshore Industries


Sectors
Users of survey and site investigation data
Offshore Site Survey and Site Investigation Industry

Geohazards
What are they?
What risks do they pose to offshore developments?

Site Survey & Site Investigation Planning


Desk Studies
Scopes of Work / Specifications
Added Value
Offshore Operations
Geophysical
Geotechnical
Post Fieldwork

Conclusions

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Overview of Offshore Industries


Sectors

Oil & gas


National Oil Companies (NOCs)
Multi-nationals (IOCs)
Independents

Marine Renewables Developers


Offshore wind (Utilities and Independents)
Tidal and wave power(Utilities and Independents)

Submarine cables
Power (Utilities)
Telecoms (Providers / JVs)

Ports & Harbour Developers

Minerals & Mining Companies

Dredging Companies

Consultancy, Engineering & Construction Companies

Survey & Site Investigation Companies

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Example Users

Project Managers
Design Engineers
Drilling Engineers
Facilities Engineers
Installation Engineers
Mariners
QHS&E Personnel
Environmentalists
Geologists
Explorationists
Surveyors
Accountants
Lawyers
Etc.

A Few Definitions
Site Survey
The ART/SCIENCE of investigation of submarine soils, shallow geology and geohazards using high
frequency sound and other non-seismic geophysical remote sensing methods
(Geophysics)
Site Investigation
The ACT of acquiring quantitative and non-quantitative, intrusive data about the seabed, sub-seabed
(Geotechnics)
Engineering Geophysics
The SCIENCE/ART of analysing geophysical data to allow the identification and description of
submarine soils, shallow geology and geohazards
Geotechnical & Foundation Engineering
The ANALYSES of integrated data on submarine soils and shallow geology for the purposes of
engineering design for foundations design, trenching etc.

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Geohazards

There are four type of geohazard


1.
2.
3.
4.
OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Actual geohazards
Engineering geohazards
Drilling geohazards
Environmental geohazards
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Site Survey & Site Investigation Planning

Some things to consider


Finding out about your site is very expensive (potentially many millions of pounds)
You can very easily waste a great deal of money
You get what you pay for
You need a planned, phased and structured approach
Objective is to reduce uncertainty in the geotechnical conditions to facilitate efficient
foundation and facilities design and operation
But - you can never achieve absolute certainty
(and bad survey can be worse than no survey)
So start with the end in mind (after Stephen Covey)
Get some good, impartial advice
Give yourself enough time
There is a lot of advice in the public domain
(e.g., OSIG, ISO, API etc.)

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Site Survey & Site Investigation Process

Significant impact on project risk and economics

Desk Study

Contractor Selection

Define Scope and Specification

Offshore Operations

Geophysical Survey
Geotechnical Survey

Integration of Data

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Desk Study #1

Spend some time and (not much) money on a desk study

A good desk study should add huge value to the project and inform Operational, Planning and
Technical Requirements

Operational Requirements
Permits / permissions / notice periods
Vessel and equipment availability (and budget costs)
Weather and environmental conditions
Other seasonal restrictions (e.g. herring spawning / whale migration / ice)
Expected seabed and sub-seabed conditions potential engineering issues?
Proposed spud date
Consent and project milestones
Exploration licence requirements

Planning Requirements
Make use of information in public domain, in-house or in consultant databases
Admiralty charts water depth, tides, currents, wrecks, cables, UXO, shipping lanes etc.
Potential fishing activity or other users of the sea (e.g. firing ranges, dumping areas etc.)
Other development activity in the area (e.g. seismic, construction etc.)

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Desk Study #2

Technical Requirements

Information held by the Operators/Developers


UK Deal
British Geological Survey (or equivalent)
Literature search
Existing site Investigation information
Existing 3D seismic
Nearby well tophole drilling information?
Nearby construction records?
Experience

The end point is a desk study that collates all relevant information about the site and what the project
is trying to do

The next decisions are:


What type of survey do you need (or is best suited to what you are trying to achieve)?
(Technical Specification)
What scope should be planned for?
(Scope of Work)
When should you do it?
(Scheduling)
Who is best placed to undertake the work for you?
(Contractor Selection ITT & Tender Review)

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

Pre-Fieldwork Considerations #1

Design the survey and site investigation programme to meet the requirements of the project
Pipeline, structures
Requirements may be competing
What information do you need and when?
What is essential and what is nice to have?

Scope of Work
To meet project requirements
What do you need to know?
Independent advice
Regulatory requirements?
Rig owner requirements? (e.g. Maersk Drilling)
Marine Warranty Surveyor
Stakeholder requirements?
Information in public domain (OSIG etc.)
Expert consultants can help
Cost versus risk
there is a point of diminishing returns
How is the residual risk being managed
(engineering contingency?)

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

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Pre-Fieldwork Considerations #2

Is a Geotechnical survey required?

Almost certainly yes but this is dependent upon


Results of desk study
Results of geophysical survey
Operator's or Developers policy
Project requirements / attitude to risk
Equipment owner /insurance requirements
HSE considerations

In certain situations (e.g. jack-up installation in the UKCS) there is an established procedure for not
doing geotechnical boreholes (UK HSE OIS3/2008)

But (and its a big but) geophysical data should only be used for the prognosis of general soil
lithology and not geotechnical conditions

On its own, the geophysical survey data cannot provide quantitative data for engineering

This is why geotechnical information is often referred to as ground truth

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Pre-Fieldwork Considerations #3

To Review:
We now know what we want to do (Scope of Work)
We know how we want to do it (Technical Specification)
We know when we want to do it (cost/benefit analysis and schedule?)
So you now need to select a contractor to do the work

In an ideal world contractor selection would follow the following process:


Issue Request for Quotation (RFQ) to find out who is interested
Issue Invitation to Tender (ITT) to get detailed costs and availability
Tender Review
Technical Content
Commercial Assessment
Availability
HSE Record
Experience
Tender evaluation report
Including recommendations for the preferred contractor

But in reality Clients often want to control this process and have preferred contractors and Term
Agreements in place

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

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Geophysical Surveys

Dedicated vessels (relatively cheap ~ 20k/day?)


Shallow geotechnics (typically 5m below seabed) possible good for pipelines (not much else)
Geophysical surveys can tell you
Water depth (bathymetry)
Seabed features
(slopes, objects, pock-marks etc.)
Seabed installations, pipelines and cables
Wrecks and obstructions
Seabed soils (but cannot be definitive) and
bedforms
Seabed stability and slopes
Environmental habitats
(e.g. horse-mussels beds etc.)
Unexploded ordnance (UXO)?

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

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Geotechnical Surveys

Shallow versus deep?


Typically shallow refers to seabed to -5m
Typically deep refers to >5m
Ease (or difficulty) of sampling / testing depends on strength of soil
In North Sea anything over 5m usually requires boreholes
When boreholes are required dedicated vessels are needed (relatively expensive ~ 70k/day?)
Limited availability of borehole vessels few contractors
A geotechnical investigation can give you:
Ground truth
Physical properties of the soil
Very limited coverage
Of limited use without being integrated
with a good geophysical survey

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

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Offshore Operations

All about maximising the considerable investment a Client is making

Mobilise competent (and experienced)


offshore representatives

24 hour coverage (HSE issues)

Onshore technical support

Real-time engineering?

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Post-Offshore Operations

Make sure all data acquired is correctly stored and transported

Agree appropriate scheduling and timelines

Agree appropriate laboratory testing schedule (and manage that schedule)

QC of all reporting

Integration of data

Invoicing and close-out of operations

Lessons learned

OSIG Offshore Site Investigation & Geotechnics Committee

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Planning a Site Survey / Site Investigation


Conclusions
1.

Always pay for a desk study

They are very good value and can add significant value to your project

2.

Get as much information as you can before the survey

3.

Get good advice

Scope of work, specifications, contractor selection, budget, timeframe, etc

4.

Flexibility is vital and integration essential

5.

Get good offshore representation

Experienced offshore representatives are vital in


order to ensure quality data is collected and to
allow for on the job decisions to be made

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You Will Pay for a Survey Whether You do One or


Not.

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www.lr-senergy.com

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