Arctic, cyber security, LNG Featured in ABS Stand at ONS

The Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) Conference that took place in Stavanger, Norway, 25-28 August 2014 saw record breaking participation. More than 91,682 visitors attended the show, where 1,392 exhibitors from 39 countries secured space to set up exhibitor stands and product demonstrations. On average, 1,100 conference delegates participated each day of the event. Sixty top government leaders and senior corporate executives from 22 countries participated in the ONS Summit, a forum for senior executives and political representatives attending ONS to get together to discuss geopolitical energy and environmental issues.

At the ABS stand, presenters from ABS and ABS Group, including Safetec, the Norway-based ABS Group company that focuses on risk assessment, discussed a number of technical research initiatives and offshore-related experiences to familiarize conference attendees with the broad spectrum of offerings provided by the classification society and its affiliated companies.

Tor-Ivar Guttulsrod, a member of the ABS Global Gas Solutions team, talked about the work ABS has done in the gas sector, most recently addressing floating LNG (FLNG). He highlighted joint projects with industry in the development of FLNG solutions and ABS’ most recent award to class Malaysia national oil company Petronas’ second FLNG unit, PFLNG2. Norwegian media outlet enerWe showed interest in the subject, interviewing Tor-Ivar and posting a video in Norwegian on its website.

EnerWe also interviewed Ole Kristian Madsen, a safety advisor with Safetec whose stand presentation addressed key challenges related to Arctic exploration. Madsen spotlighted work Safetec is doing in Norway to analyze and develop risk mitigation solutions with international operators. One of the major projects discussed was the High North Goliat development in the Barents Sea off Norway’s northern coast for which Safetec is developing an integrated barrier management system. The Goliat FPSO will be the first production unit installed in the Barents Sea.

ABS Group Vice President for Offshore Business Development Jaime Mani presented the final technical presentation in the series about cyber security and the potential repercussions to offshore operations as drilling and offshore assets increasingly use more complex, highly integrated equipment systems controlled through software.

The ABS stand presentations reflected the theme of the conference – changes – with a consistent and clear message. As advancing technology enables offshore operators to push into demanding new environments, ABS and ABS Group will continue to work closely with industry to promote safe operations.