Analysis of Oil Spill Risk in DP Shuttle Tanker Direct Offloading Operations

Author(s):  
Haibo Chen ◽  
Torgeir Moan ◽  
Arve Lerstad ◽  
Ka˚re Breivik

DP shuttle tankers performing offloading directly from fixed or geostationary floating offshore installations is addressed in this paper. It is important to ensure that disconnection of offloading hose can be achieved in time given shuttle tanker DP failure and position loss. The accident scenario is the hose fail-to-disconnect while shuttle tanker has an excessive position excursion. The consequence can be oil spill combined with the damage the offloading system. The spill amount can be as much as the crude oil volume in the hose, or over 1000 m3 if isolation and shutdown of oil export pump on the installation are not achieved timely. Various barriers to prevent oil spill have been developed over the past 30 years’ history of shuttle tanker offshore loading. However, the direct offloading is a new operational context to the traditional offloading. A quantitative frequency model for oil spill initiated by DP shuttle tanker position loss in direct offloading is presented in this paper. Case study results show that in the base case where only traditional barriers are used, the frequency for large oil spill up to 1000 m3 or more may reach 2.48E−03 per year, given 20 hours offloading cargo transfer time and 52 times offloadings per year. This frequency is not negligible, and risk reduction measures are viewed necessary. Novel safety barriers, i.e. Automatic Shutdown and Release (ASDR), as well as the HPR (Hydroacoustic Position Reference) and BLS (Bow Loading System) weak link mode, are analyzed as sensitivity cases. Results show that the frequency of large oil spill can then be reduced to 3.81E−05 per year, i.e. 1.5% of the base case value, and this is well within 1.0E−04 per year level. Recommendations to minimize oil spill risk during DP shuttle tanker direct offloading operations are proposed in this paper.

Author(s):  
Erik D. Nennie ◽  
Harry J. C. Korst ◽  
Knud Lunde ◽  
Rune Myklebust

On December 12, 2007, the second largest oil spill in the history of Norwegian oil exploration occurred on StatoilHydro’s Statfjord Alpha platform. The spill was caused by a snapped 20″ oil off-loading hose. Thorough investigations by StatoilHydro [1] and by the Norwegian authorities [2] revealed the chain of events that led to this incident. One of the links in this chain was the unintended fast closure of the shuttle tanker’s bow loading valve during off-loading. This closure initiated a pressure surge in the oil off-loading system. As part of the internal investigation by StatoilHydro, TNO carried out a water hammer analysis of the entire oil off-loading system, including the off-loading hoses to the seabed and further subsea piping up to the platform. These simulations revealed that high pressures could occur in the oil off-loading system due to fast closure of the bow loading valve followed by multiple reflections at diameter changes. The maximum pressures were more than 100 bar above the normal operating pressure of 10 bar. The diameter changes were introduced into the oil off-loading system to maximize the off-loading capacity. The results of the water hammer analysis provided the missing link between the fast closure of the valve and the damaged hose and also showed that this damage most likely occurred within 0.5 second after the closure of the valve. Based on the results of this analysis, also other oil off-loading systems are being reinvestigated to prevent a similar incident to occur in the future.


Author(s):  
Mohd Fauzi Badaruddin ◽  
Fangyuan Zhang ◽  
Yong Bai

A QRA based LDC design for a proposed sub-sea oil export pipeline is presented in this paper as an example to reveal how to perform the QRA/LDC study in practical projects. The authors are now dedicated to a pipeline QRA/RBI program development, which will be issued in the near future. The object of QRA/LDC study is to determine if the current leak detection philosophy excluding the use of statistical leak detection is sufficient, based on QRA results; if not, an appropriate LDC will be established. The QRA assessment will determine the frequency of leaks, leak volume, response time and Shoreline/Marine Park infected oil quantity. All of the risk assessments in this paper have been done for the comparison of two scenarios: with LDS and without LDS, in order to find out the benefits of statistical LDS installation. And the result has revealed that the use of statistical LDS can largely reduce the oil spill volume. Thus, a suitable LDS is recommended to be installed to reduce the impact of oil spill consequences. A sound LDC has been defined based on QRA study results and comments form various LDS vendors in this paper to assist the Emergency Response Team (ERT) to quickly identify, locate and employ a mitigation measure to contain the damage in case a leak incident occurs.


GYNECOLOGY ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
T S Amyan ◽  
S G Perminova ◽  
L V Krechetova ◽  
V V Vtorushina

Study objective. To evaluate the efficacy of intrauterine administration of autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) prior to embryo transfer in patients with recurrent implantation failures in IVF program. Materials and methods. The study enrolled 129 patients with recurrent implantation failures in an IVF programme. Group 1 - 42 patients who had intrauterine administration of autologous PBMC activated with hCG (Pregnyl 500 IU). Group 2 - 42 patients who had intrauterine administration of autologous PBMC without hCG activation. Group 3 (placebo) - 45 patients who had intrauterine administration of saline. Study results. In the hCG-activated PBMC group, the rates of positive blood hCG tests, implantation, and clinical pregnancy were significantly higher than the respective rates in the non-activated PBMC group and in the placebo group, both in a stimulated cycle and in an FET cycle (р≤0.05). Conclusion. Intrauterine administration of autologous PBMC prior to embryo transfer in an IVF/ICSI programme increases the efficacy of IVF program in patients with a history of recurrent implantation failures.


Author(s):  
Won-Chul Bing

The Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) League is a sports culture that Koreans love and enjoy most. However, the launch of the KBO League is related to political issues in Korea. The purpose of this study is to explain the launch history of the KBO league through a sociopolitical approach. The history of the KBO league was explained by applying a complex paradigm that explains sociocultural phenomena from a new perspective. This study used historical analysis, a qualitative study approach. Literature related to Korean professional baseball, complex system theory, sports, and politics were reviewed. This study introduces the characteristics and theory of the complex system paradigm and analyzes the history of the KBO League based on this theory. The edge of chaos, bifurcation point, positive feedback, emergence of the theory of complex system are used as elements of an overall theoretical framework to analyze the history and development of the KBO league. The study results are explained in four frameworks. First, the KBO was launched on the edge of chaos, or in the midst of social chaos provoked by Chun Doo-Hwan, who seized power through a military coup. Second, the Chun Doo-Hwan regime launched the professional baseball league to divert the public’s attention from politics to sports and provided support to construct baseball fields as venues for the national pastime. The Chun Doo-Hwan regime’s appeasement policy became a bifurcation point, which promoted the launch of the professional baseball league. Third, from the viewpoint of the complex system paradigm, the launch of the Korean baseball league was enabled by the positive feedback of the Korea professional baseball promotion committee, established in 1975 under the initiative of Korean American businessman Hong Yoon-Hee. Fourth, the Korean professional baseball league led to the emergence of the consumption culture of professional sports, and it became a national leisure and a crucial part of Korea’s sports culture. In terms of sociopolitical, the KBO League started in the dark of Korean society, but it is becoming a vitality for Korean sports culture and health.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S603-S603
Author(s):  
D. Torres ◽  
G. Martinez-Ales ◽  
M. Quintana ◽  
V. Pastor ◽  
M.F. Bravo

IntroductionSuicide causes 1.4% of deaths worldwide. Twenty times more frequent, suicide attempts entail an important source of disability and of psychosocial and medical resources use.ObjectiveTo describe main socio-demographical and psychiatric risk factors of suicide attempters treated in a general hospital's emergency room basis.AimsTo identify individual features potentially useful to improve both emergency treatments and resource investment.MethodsA descriptive study including data from 2894 patients treated in a general hospital's emergency room after a suicidal attempt between years 2006 and 2014.ResultsSixty-nine percent of the population treated after an attempted suicide were women. Mean age was 38 years old. Sixty-six percent had familiar support; 48.5% had previously attempted a suicide (13% did not answer this point); 72.6% showed a personal history of psychiatric illness. Drug use was present in 38.3% of the patients (20.3% did not answer this question); 23.5% were admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit. Medium cost of a psychiatric hospitalization was found to be 4900 euros.ConclusionThis study results agree with previously reported data. Further observational studies are needed in order to bear out these findings, rule out potential confounders and thus infer and quantify causality related to each risk factor.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Author(s):  
Basavaraj PG ◽  
Ashok P Yenkanchi ◽  
Chidanand Galagali

Background: Risk factors can lead to clinical conditions, like metabolic syndrome, that predisposes the development of cardiovascular diseases. Objective: The goal of this population-based, prospective and non-randomised cohort study was to study the association between patients with metabolic syndrome and other various factors defining metabolic syndrome. Methods: All the patients referred to the department of Medicine, Al-Ameen Medical college hospital and District Hospital, Vijayapur, Karnataka, India over a period of twenty-two months extending from December 2013 to September 2015 were considered in this study. Results: In the current study, out of 100 patients, 62.9% patients had metabolic syndrome with positive family history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus. 70.8% patients had metabolic syndrome with positive history of smoking. 64.3% patients had metabolic syndrome with positive history of alcohol .73.9% patients had metabolic syndrome with positive history of IHD. 87% of the patients with metabolic syndrome had SBP> 130 mmHg, and 78.85% patients had DBP>85 mmHg. And metabolic syndrome was observed in 71.8% patients on anti hypertensive drugs. The mean level of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglyceride is increased whereas the mean level of anti-atherogenic HDL cholesterol is low in subjects with MS. At least one lipid abnormality was present in > 95 % of cases. Around 81% subjects with BMI <25 (out of 38) had metabolic syndrome and 58% subjects with BMI>25(out of 62) had metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: All the components defining the metabolic syndrome correlated positively with the abdominal obesity. Systolic blood pressure values were significantly higher than diastolic blood pressure in subjects with abdominal obesity. Metabolic syndrome has multiple risk factors determined by various aspects like the race, the life style, geographical factors larger study is needed to understand the correlation between various components defining it. A healthy lifestyle, that includes avoiding tobacco exposure and proper weight control, must be encouraged in this high-risk population. Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Overweight; Risk factors; Smoking.


Author(s):  
Razieh Alivand ◽  
Fatemeh Abdi ◽  
Mahmood Dehghani-Ashkezari ◽  
Hossein Neamatzadeh ◽  
Sedigheh Ekraminasab

Background: Recurrent miscarriage (RM) is one of the major problems of public health globally. The thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) gene is a plasma zymogen that regulates both fibrinolysis and inflammation. Genetic variants within TAFI gene are presumed to be associated with development of RM. This case-control study aimed to investigate the association of TAFI +505A>G polymorphism with RM in Iranian women referred to Meybod Genetic Center. Methods: Fifty women with RM (at least 2 miscarriages) and 50 healthy women with no history of miscarriage or other fertility complications were participated in this study. The TAFI +505A>G polymorphism was genotyped by allele specific PCR (AS-PCR) assay. Results: The mean age of cases with RM and controls was 27.25 ± 4.31 and 28.42 ± 3.22 years, respectively. The frequency of GG genotype and G allele was 0.00% in patients and controls. There was no significant difference between RM cases and controls in terms of +505A>G genotypes and alleles. Conclusion: This study results indicated that there was no significant relationship between the TAFI +505A>G polymorphism and RM risk in Iranian women. However, further rigorous, studies with a larger sample size and different ethnicity are necessary to confirm our findings.


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 5467-5467
Author(s):  
Salem Alshemmari ◽  
Ramesh Pandita ◽  
Abdulaziz Hamadah ◽  
Ahmad Alhuraiji

Background :Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is common malignancy in Western countries. However, little known about this disease entity in our area. This study exploring the biology in out patients' population. Method:Patients with confirmed CLL under IGHV and TP53 mutational analysis at presentation or during follow up. We also integrated other clinical and biological parameter in this study. Results: A total of 137 cases were analyzed, median age 61 years (range:34-89); 30% of the cases age was<55 years at presentation. There was 108 males vs. 29 females M:F ratio 3.7. Two patients gave a family history of CLL, while 1 patient gave a history of other lymphoproliferative disorders. Binet staging system available in 134 cases, A: 109 (81.3%), B: 12 (9%), C:13 (9.7%). B2 macroglobulin elevated in 40/112 (36%) cases and 10/103 (10%) had M-spike. CD38 positivity reported in 37/112 (33%) of cases. Cytogenetics data evaluable in 85 cases: isolated del(13q): 35%, isolated trisomy 12 (16.5%), del(11q) (4.5%), del(17p)(2.4%). IGHV mutational status mutated vs unmutated: 40% vs 60%. Cases with available treatment information on 132 cases. Fifty cases required treatment due to disease progression. First line treatment Bendamustine-Rituximab (BR) 3 cases, Fludarabine Cyclophosphamide Rituximab (FCR) 30 cases and Chlorambucil with anti-CD 20 antibody 6 cases. At the time of review, 3 cases on ibrutinib (2 in 3rdline and 1 case in the 4thline). Conclusion: This is the first study to shed light on CLL in our area. There are biological differences between our patients' population and the western countries. Disclosures Pandita: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen Cilag: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Kodjo Kakpovi ◽  
Komi Cyrille Tagbor ◽  
Eyram Fianyo ◽  
Agbeko Komlan Doleagbenou ◽  
Kokou Mensah Guinhouya ◽  
...  

Objective: To determine the prevalence and factors associated with neuropathic pain in patients with non-specific low back pain. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from May to July 2016 in the Rheumatology, Neurology and Neurosurgery departments of Lome. The DN4 questionnaire was used for the diagnosis of neuropathic pain in the 200 patients with low back pain included in this study. Results: Of the 200 patients (147 women and 53 men) included in the study, neuropathic pain was present in 92 (46%). The average age of the 92 patients (67 women vs 25 men, p = 0.04) was 55.5 ± 12.4 years (women 55.2 ± 12.8 vs. men 54.6 ± 11.4, p = 0.5). The characteristics of neuropathic pain mainly found were: burning sensation (n = 67, 72.8%); electrical discharges (n = 64, 69.6%); tingling (n = 90; 97.8%); tickling (n = 57; 62%); numbness (n = 89; 96.7%); hypoesthesia (n = 52; 56.5%). Factors significantly associated with the presence of neuropathic pain in LBP were age (p = 0.005), duration of LBP (p = 0.04), high blood pressure (p = 0.001), radicular pain (p = 0.00002) and the past history of the LBP (0.000000). Conclusion: Neuropathic pain is common in patients with LBP at Lome. The duration of LBP, past history of LBP, previous NSAID use, BMI, pain severity and radicular pain appear to be predictive of the occurrence of these neuropathic pains.


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