BP: Bringing Gulf-of-Mexico-style offshore design to the North Sea.

The BP Clair project brings the advantages of a Gulf-of-Mexico-style design and contracting arrangement to the environmentally challenging frontier of the North Sea, with significant cost advantages anticipated by our client.

The large-scale, geographically diverse project required design appraisal in Houston and inspection at major fabrication sites in Norway and the UK, and equipment package fabricators across Europe.

Implementing different standards, practices and processes into the UK regulatory environment posed particular challenges for the verification scheme.

We provided independent verification, under UK safety case regulation, for the asset’s:

• design

• construction

• installation

• operation.

We also delivered integrity services during design and construction.

The client valued our innovative, flexible approach to meet regulatory demands, alongside our specialist technical capabilities in addressing the project’s difficult geo-technical aspects (foundations and piling).

Our independent services helped to assure BP of the suitability of the safety critical elements of the asset and that integrity was designed into the project. Material selection, equipment arrangement, insulation and corrosion monitoring arrangements were of particular focus.

We now act as BP’s operational Independent Verification Body and continue to work closely with our client on a number of construction projects. This includes providing ongoing asset verification services and support to the front end engineering design phase of the Claire Ridge development.