Major challenges of offshore platforms design for shallow water oil and gas field in moderate ice conditions

Offshore engineers and scientists face fascinating economical and technical challenges in designing offshore platforms for shallow water oil and gas fields in moderate ice conditions. Petroleum production systems in these ice-infested areas such as the Bohai Bay of China, Cook Inlet, Barent Sea, and Caspian Sea must be designed to accommodate the harsh environmental conditions, among which the first-year sea ice is one of the major design consideration. Extreme ice loads and ice-induced vibrations still remain an area of uncertainty in offshore platforms. This paper demonstrates the main technical aspects on the use of jackets in the Bohai Bay, with particular focus on ice loads and the failure modes of slender ice-resistant structures, which are the two key issues in design considerations. A design proposal and some considerations for economical ice-resistant structures for safe development in the cold region are also conceptually discussed.