Environmental implications and the corrosion of abandoned marine oilfield structures
- Univ. of Southampton (United Kingdom)
Over fifty North Sea oil fields will be abandoned in the next ten years. The future abandonment program for fields, offshore platforms and subsea facilities raises the issue of corrosion and its long term effects on disused metallic installations. This paper reviews the current debate in Europe over strategies for decommissioning North Sea offshore structures. As the corrosion control methods such as cathodic protection and corrosion-resistant coatings/laggings cease to function, the risk of environmental impact is increased. Aspects of corrosion rate predictions invariable conditions and depths, together with the limitations of knowledge of the performance of more modern materials such as superduplex piping and wellhead steels are discussed. The influence of fouling as an inhibitive process is also examined. The balance of the evidence indicates that the options in which metallic installations remain on the seabed do not constitute an environmental problem.
- OSTI ID:
- 287863
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960154--; ISBN 0-9648731-8-4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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