Evaluating stress analysis and failure criteria for offshore structures for Pechora Sea conditions

Development of Arctic hydrocarbon resources has faced many challenges due to sensitive environmental conditions including low temperatures, ice cover and terrestrial permafrost and extreme seasonal variation in sunlight. Russian offshore field development in Arctic region is usually associated with annual ice cover, which can cause serious damage on the offshore platforms. The Pechora Sea has claimed as one of the most perspective oil and gas region of the Russian Arctic with seven discovered oil and gas fields and several dozens of structures. Our rough assessment, based on in-place hydrocarbon volumes and recovery factor evaluation concept, indicates that Pechora Sea alone has in-place volumes amounting to ca. 20 billion barrel oil equivalent (BOE). This quantity is enough to secure produced volumes by 2040 exceeding 3 billion BOE [1] that indicates huge resource potential of the region. The environmental conditions are primarily function of water dynamics and ice cover. The sea is covered by the ice for greatest part of the year. In this article, the ice load simulations were performed using explicit dynamic analysis system in ANSYS software to determine best shape and size of an offshore platform for the Pechora Sea ice conditions. Different gravity based structures (GBS) were analyzed: artificial island, hollow cylindrical and conical concrete structures and four-leg GBS. Relationships between the stress, deformations and time were analyzed and important observations from the simulation results were a basis for selecting the most preferable structures.