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Project Number 548
Date of Summary June 23, 2006
Subject Examination and Review of Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Loss of Station-keeping Ability During Hurricane Ivan and Assessment of Current Mooring Standards and Criteria to Prevent Similar Failures
Performing Activity Offshore Risk & Technology Consulting, Inc
Principal Investigator Dr. Malcolm Sharples
Contracting Agency Minerals Management Service
Estimated Completion Completed
Description The project examined the Loss of MODU Station-keeping in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Ivan, September 2004, comparing those findings with that of recent Hurricanes Andrew (1992) and Lili (2002), and assessed the current mooring standards and criteria to prevent similar failures.

Objectives:

The project’s objectives are summarized below:

1.   Study the failures associated with the Mobile Drilling Units during Hurricane Ivan including gathering and reviewing information and determining cause available on:

a.   Loss of station keeping of 5 Semisubmersible MODUs 

b.   Collapse of a jackup MODU.  

c.   Damage to 2 other jackup MODUs 

d.   Settlement on the legs of one or more other MODUS which could have resulted in casualties.

2.   Develop any recommended update on criteria and perform analysis determining if the updated criteria would have caused these units to avoid the resulting effect during the hurricane.

3.   Re-visit the Recommendations from the Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Lili Studies on station keeping, and update any recommendations for future mitigation action. 

4.   Make Recommendations as to how the criteria for siting jackups would view these jackup MODUs at their locations and make any recommendations for future mitigation action.

Report
AA PDF (97 pages) Failure Assessment of MODUs: Hurricane Ivan, Final Report. 97 pp. September 2004.
 

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