Abstract
Weather plays a major factor in human activities offshore, and extreme weather in particular, is one of the significant perils encountered. Storms and hurricanes regularly challenge and endanger the offshore energy industry, exposing their insurers, owners, and investors to significant capital loss. Each weather event is unique, and the response of platforms, pipelines, rigs, vessels, and other infrastructure in the path of the storm are also unique. Damage can occur in many forms and failures are often due to a combination of conditions. The purpose of this article is to provide a summary assessment of offshore energy losses due to weather using the Willis Energy Loss database. A statistical assessment of weather damage and loss, broken out by region, time, and loss category, is presented covering the time horizon 1970–2004.
Acknowledgment
Andrew Jackson of Willis Global Markets provided comments and critique of this study, which is gratefully acknowledged. The Willis Energy Loss database is a subscription service available on the Internet at www.willis.com.
Notes
a Weather events defined as heavy weather, ice/snow/freeze, and windstorms.
a Weather events defined as heavy weather, ice/snow/freeze, and windstorms.
a FPSO = floating production storage and offloading vessel; FSU = floating storage unit; SBM = single point buoy mooring; SC = subsea completion.
a FPSO = floating production storage and offloading vessel; FSU = floating storage unit; SBM = single point buoy mooring; SC = subsea completion.