Structural standards: ISO 19906:2010 in Alaska.

• Author: Swann, Kirsten
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Arctic Oil & Gas

Between environmental concerns, permitting requirements, economics, and politics, developing oil and gas projects in Alaska's Arctic waters is no simple endeavor.

Major corporations spend years and millions of dollars in hopes of tapping into subsea reserves in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Ongoing regulatory hurdles continue to stand in the way of exploration. Production remains--at the very least--several years away.

By the time that happens, there may be another element in the mix: the rigorous construction standards of ISO 19906:2010.

Esoteric in Alaska

ISO 19906:2010, a set of international normative standards, covers oil and gas-related structures in offshore Arctic waters, but it remains relatively esoteric in Alaska. Industry groups are unfamiliar with the name. Very few projects have been built under 19906 standards.

One day, though, that could all change.

"We're kind of ahead of the game," says Dr. Andrew Metzger, an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Last updated in 2010, the 19906 was put together by a group representing seven different Arctic nations, Metzger says. There were engineers, scientists, and representatives from the petroleum industry, all coming together to develop a consensus standard for offshore structures in harsh Arctic environments.

The 19906 is part of a seven-part series governing offshore structures--the full series also includes specific requirements for petroleum and natural gas industry offshore structures, fixed steel offshore structures, floating offshore structures, fixed concrete offshore structures, and site-specific assessments of mobile offshore units. The standard dealing with offshore structures in Arctic environments was developed by Technical Committee ISO/TC 67, which covers materials, equipment, and offshore structures for petroleum, petrochemical, and natural gas industries.

But not all Arctic environments are created equal, and Metzger says that's the trick with writing building codes.

"If you make it too restrictive, you can stifle or create a situation where you're not able to build anything: Too broad, and people can build whatever they want," he says. "So they laid out this design philosophy, and it's up to the user to come up with the numbers to implement that design philosophy."

Metzger is part of the scientific team working to tailor the design philosophy of 19906:2010 for use in the unique Alaska Arctic.

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) funds his work through a grant to the university, and a federal regulatory agency may eventually choose to adopt the 19906:2010 as a requirement for offshore work in US Arctic waters. If that happens, Metzger says, industry groups would do well to understand it.

Huge Document

The document itself is nearly five hundred pages long. According to the International Standards Organization, the independent group that publishes it, 19906 "specifies requirements and provides recommendations and guidance for the design, construction, transportation, installation, and removal of offshore structures, related to the activities of the petroleum and natural gas industries in Arctic and cold regions."

It exists to make sure that Arctic offshore structures provide a standard level of reliability when it comes to everything from safety to environmental protection and asset value, the ISO states. In general, though, 19906:2010 doesn't cover operations...