Title Offshore Installation Moorings

Offshore Information
Publication Date May 2019 Document Identification
Sheet 4/2013 Rev.3
Review Date May 2022 Master Reference 2019/19168

Target Audience All Stakeholders Document Owner ED4.3

Open Government
Fully Open
Status

1.0 Introduction

1.1 This information sheet applies to offshore installation moorings. It replaces

OTO 2001/50 on Station keeping; SPC/ENF/50 on the Reporting of Mooring
Failures; and incorporates Safety Notice 3-2005 on FPSO (Floating Production
Storage and Offloading vessel) mooring inspection, which is now withdrawn.
This revision corrects errors found in the published version of Revision 2.
1.2 The guidance is for marine technical authorities and their contractors engaged
in design, installation, inspection, and monitoring of mooring systems. It sets
out the actions required of duty holders and gives further guidance on offshore
installation moorings in the appendices.
1.3 This sheet takes into account the lessons learned from recent mooring failures
in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) and reflects the emergence of
newer, widely accepted codes and standards. HSE’s position is clarified on
interpretation of safety case legislation for the UKCS.
1.4 This revision contains revised requirements for mobile offshore units.
2.0 Actions Required
FPSO/FSU/Permanently Moored Installations
2.1 New floating production / storage / permanently moored installations should
comply with the technical requirements of ISO 19901-7 Annex B.2.

2.2 Existing floating production / storage / permanently moored installations must

be reviewed for compliance with ISO 19901-7 Annex B.2 together with the
additional guidance given in Appendix 2 of this sheet. If compliance with ISO
19901-7 Annex B.2 is not reasonably practicable, the duty holder should state
in the safety case the reasons for non-compliance and justify the case for safe
operation.
Mobile Offshore Units

2.3 For all mobile offshore units, location approvals are expected to meet ISO
19901-7 main text with additional robustness checks for 100-year return period
weather conditions as discussed further in appendix 2. Compliance with ISO
Annex B.2 is expected if the consequence of a mooring failure is intolerable. In

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 1 of 10

 making such an assessment the factors to be considered include, but are not
limited to:

a. Number of personnel on board

b. Proximity to other installations
c. Potential for hydrocarbon release
d. Subsea infrastructure
e. Expected duration on location
f. Effect of thruster failure
g. Any other relevant/location specific hazards
(E.g. a MODU in open water with minimal subsea infrastructure is considered
unlikely to require the application of ISO 19901-7 Annex B2, while a mobile
offshore unit in close proximity to another installation is considered very likely to
require compliance with Annex B2 requirements.)

Operating Limits

2.4 Duty holders should establish appropriate operating limits after a line failure.
These limits should consider the stationkeeping performance of the degraded
mooring system and the consequences of a further line failure.

Inspection and Maintenance System

2.5 All installations require an inspection and maintenance system for their
moorings. This needs to take into account guidance such as Oil and Gas UK
Mooring Integrity Guidelines, API RP 2I and API RP 2SM in determining the
nature and frequency of the inspection required.

Verification Scheme

2.6 The mooring system is a safety and environmental critical element (SECE) for
which a verification scheme is required in accordance with the Offshore
Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015.
Duty holders should also define suitable performance standards for thrusters
and the heading control system where they are required for stationkeeping.

This guidance is issued by the Offshore Safety Directive Regulator (OSDR).

Following the guidance is not compulsory and you are free to take other action. But if
you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law.
Inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance as
illustrating good practice.

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 2 of 10

Appendix 1: Codes and Standard

1. This appendix gives the reasoning on the HSE recommended code, and
comment on other codes and standards. It applies to both floating production /
storage / permanent moorings and to moorings for mobile offshore units, except
where noted otherwise. For mobile offshore units which operate at a single
location for more than 12 months, duty holders must ensure a robust mooring
integrity management system is in place.
ISO 19901-7

2. ISO 19901-7 is the recommended code for offshore moorings. Compliance with
the technical requirements of Annex B.2 are not mandatory but should be
considered by the duty holder based on the type of installation and the level of
risk. The following aspects of Annex B.2 are considered important by HSE and
should be met where this is reasonably practicable.

• increased wear and corrosion allowances in splash zone for permanent

moorings;
• assessment of a simultaneous double failure (two-line failure) for permanent
moorings; and
• increased safety factors which take account of the operational state of the
installation when connected to risers or when in proximity to other structures.
(The use of ‘consequence class’ for critical mooring lines.)

ISO 19901-7: Annex B.2

3. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD) has issued local regulations,

including the ‘Anchoring Regulations of 10 July 2009, No.998’ (NMD 998)
concerning positioning and anchoring systems on mobile offshore units. The
2013 version of Annex B.2 of the ISO Code has been updated to reflect in part
NMD 998. A Canadian section is included in Annex B, which states the same
technical requirements as for Norway.
4. The particular points of difference to the main text, and to other mooring design
codes, in ISO 19901-7 Annex B.2, are

• enhanced test load requirements for drag anchors

• increased corrosion and wear allowance in the splash zone
• assessment of a two-line failure case for a 10-year return period storm
(permanent and production unit moorings only)
• assessment of transient motion after line failure for permanent moorings,
irrespective of proximity to other installations
• increased safety factors when operational, and when connected to risers, or
when in proximity to other installations (consequence class)
• 100-year return period storm condition applied (with slightly reduced safety
factors) to the mooring systems of mobile offshore units (MOUs). (The main
ISO code applies a 5 to 10-year storm for MOUs)
• additional requirements for drag anchors as further detailed in DNVGL-RP-
E301
Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 3 of 10
 • a check (accidental limit state (ALS)) on mooring line integrity for a single
extreme event (typically a 10 000-year return period, with a safety factor of 1
applied)

Other Standards

5. The following codes and standards are now widely accepted in the offshore
industry

• API RP 2SK
• DNVGL-OS-E301 (superseded POSMOOR ’96)
• Lloyds Register Rules for Classification Floating Units at Fixed location – Part
3
• ABS Rules for Building and Classification of MODUs
• ABS Rules for Building and Classification of Floating Production Installations
• DNVGL Noble Denton: 0032/ND Guidelines for Moorings

6. Although these codes and standards differ in emphasis and content, they do tend
to harmonise with the ISO Code – particularly the agreement on a design
environmental return period of 100 years for permanent moorings.

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 4 of 10

Appendix 2: General Mooring Guidance
1. This appendix gives further information for design, operation, inspection,
monitoring and emergency arrangements for offshore mooring systems.
Thruster Assistance – General Requirements

2. Thrusters in a thruster-assisted mooring system are likely to be safety critical

components. Where these are identified as safety critical, duty holders should
define suitable performance standards for thrusters and, where applicable,
heading control systems.
3. On installations with a thruster-assisted mooring system the personnel
responsible for the mooring system must be adequately trained and competent in
the use of thrusters. Duty holders may need to consider simulator training.
Training exercises should include the response to loss of moorings and manual
control of thrusters.
Weathervaning Units with Thruster Assistance

4. In adverse weather conditions, incidents have shown that power supplies have
been interrupted due to vessel motion and thrusters have tripped or failed to
maintain heading.
5. Most existing codes require full or partial failure of the thruster system to be
assessed. This is considered as a redundancy check in ISO 19901-7, or referred
to as an accidental limit state (ALS) in some other codes.
6. The extent of thruster system failure in the ALS case should be determined from
a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). A complete failure of the thruster
system (e.g. through a blackout) should be considered.
7. HSE recommends that, as a minimum, permanently moored installations with
thruster-assisted mooring should be able to survive a 10-year storm in a blackout
(i.e. with loss of all thrusters). This is in addition to the case(s) based on the
FMEA analysis currently required by the codes.
8. Suitable guidance on requirements for the FMEA for the thruster system and the
power management is contained in outline in ISO 19901-7 and in more detail in
DNV-OS-E301 or Lloyds Register Rules for Classification Floating Units at Fixed
location – Part 3.
9. Duty holders need to consider what thruster system failures are used as
redundancy or ALS cases. Consequences of a thruster system failure may be
most severe in installations where thrusters are used primarily to control vessel
heading, thereby minimising the environmental loads on the vessel.
Mooring Inspection

10. Premature and unexpected chain wear has occurred on some FPSO / FSU
mooring designs close to the termination of the mooring at the turret. Other likely

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 5 of 10

 wear areas are in the thrash zone close to the seabed. Areas of likely wear
should be included in any inspection program.

11. Duty holders are expected to identify critical areas of their mooring systems and
to have mooring inspection regimes in place in line with guidance such as the Oil
and Gas UK Mooring Integrity Guidelines in addition to Classification Society
requirements where these are applicable.

12. The frequency of inspection should increase with the age of the mooring. API RP
2I gives some guidance on this. DNVGL-RP-E304 gives guidance for the damage
assessment of fibre ropes.

13. The duty holder should establish clear acceptance and rejection criteria for the
inspection of all mooring components including chain, wire, fibre rope,
connectors, buoys and anodes.
Mooring Tension and Position Monitoring

14. The duty holder should measure and record mooring line tensions. Where this is
not practicable then suitable arrangements should be in place to verify the
integrity of the mooring system and detect a line breakage. Various surveillance
systems are discussed in the Oil and Gas UK Mooring Integrity Guidelines.
Where none of these is practicable, evaluation of mooring tension may be
inferred from the positional information. In this case the installation’s position
must be continuously monitored using suitably reliable systems.
15. These arrangements should be appropriate for the detection and confirmation of
a mooring line break at the earliest practicable opportunity.
16. Appropriate arrangements for position and mooring tension monitoring are
described in DNVGL-OS-E301.
Response to Line Break Detection

17. Control room operators should have reliable equipment with an alarm that
indicates a line breakage. For further information on line break detection systems,
refer to the Oil and Gas UK Mooring Integrity Guidelines1.
18. Appropriate response procedures should be documented and included in the
emergency response manual. Practice drills should be carried out.
Data Logging and Operational Performance

19. Data logging of mooring tension is regarded as good practice in UKCS. Vessel
positions, motion responses, and environmental conditions should also be
similarly recorded with a view to validate system behaviour and identify failure
causes.
Adverse Weather Policy

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 6 of 10

20. For production installations, the adverse weather policy should be guided by the
tension and excursion limits of the mooring system. This should be based on the
safety factors applied to the mooring system.
Reporting Mooring Failures (this section replaces SPC/ENF/50 which has been
withdrawn)
21. Component failures, such as single chain/wires, connector links, fairleads etc.,
may be reportable under the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and
Construction, etc.) Regulations 1996 (DCR) Regulation 9 ‘Reporting of danger to
an installation’. These failures may be reported to the Offshore Safety Directive
Regulator (OSDR) using the process described in Operations Notice 30
http://www.hse.gov.uk/osdr/reporting/incidents-to-osdr.htm. Refer to the guidance
on DCR in HSE publication L85, paras 61 and 62, for further information
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l85.htm.
22. System failures, where more than one component fails (e.g. two or more mooring
lines), are reportable under Regulation 33 of the Offshore Installations (Offshore
Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 using the process
described in Operations Notice 30
http://www.hse.gov.uk/osdr/reporting/incidents-to-osdr.htm.
Moorings for Mobile Offshore Units

23. For those mobile offshore units where it is assessed that compliance with ISO
19901-7 Annex B2 is not expected, location-specific mooring analyses should be
performed to ISO 19901-7 main text or other equivalent standards. In addition to
the location specific analysis to ISO 19901-7 or equivalent, a robustness check
should be done for 100-year return period weather conditions to demonstrate a
minimum factor of safety of 1.0 in the intact condition. If this is not achievable for
any installation with an accepted safety case, a demonstration of robustness
under a minimum of 50-year weather conditions may be acceptable on condition
that additional measures to reduce the risk of a mooring line failure are
implemented. It is expected that the combination of weather used in the analysis
will be onerous to assess the worst-case response to demonstrate adequate
system robustness.
24. The installation duty holder should ensure that the mooring arrangements for a
specific location are suitable for the local conditions and the operations being
undertaken.
25. Location-specific mooring analyses should be prepared to demonstrate the
suitability of a particular mooring pattern for the specific location, water depth,
seabed infrastructure, soil conditions, and nature and duration of the operation.
26. ISO 19901-7 only permits the consideration of line tension adjustments ‘for
operational reasons and/or in advance of foreseeable environmental events’ not
‘the modelling of active adjustments of line tension during the analysis of design
situations’. This is interpreted as follows:

• Line manipulations to maintain vessel position etc. in operating cases are

permitted provided that tension levels remain below winch stall capacities.
Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 7 of 10
 • A reduction in line pretensions in advance of worsening weather or on moving
to survival draft is permitted provided a single adjusted spread is used for all
environmental load cases.

• Line adjustments (in the analysis) following line failure are not permitted.

27. Where emergency mooring release systems are fitted, these should be capable
of operation from a safe location, typically within the temporary refuge, and using
systems which do not create an ignition source in the event of a gas release.
28. Mobile offshore unit duty holders should ensure that they have reliable data on
the soil conditions for the location, and that the anchor penetration and holding
power has been adequately demonstrated.
29. Location specifics including, but not limited to, water depth, surrounding
infrastructure and predicted deep anchor embedment will be considered when
determining pretension, anchor embedment checks and anchor holding capacity
requirements.
30. To confirm anchors are set, mooring lines should be cross tensioned in
accordance with the mooring analysis results.
31. It is recommended that suitable means are employed to verify anchor position
and anchor embedment such as the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 8 of 10

Appendix 3: Legal Requirements – OSDR-enforced legislation applicable
to mooring systems

• Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 (SCR05)

• Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.)
Regulations 2015 (SCR2015)
• Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc.) Regulations
1996 (DCR)
• Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency
Response) Regulations 1995 (PFEER)
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
2013 (RIDDOR)
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 9 of 10

References

1. Oil & Gas UK Mooring Integrity Guidelines

https://oilandgasuk.co.uk/product/mooring-integrity-guidelines/
2. BS EN ISO 19901-7 Stationkeeping systems for floating offshore structures and
MOUs
3. API RP 2SK Design and Analysis of Stationkeeping Systems for Floating
Structures
4. API RP 2I In-service Inspection of Mooring Hardware for Floating Structures
5. API RP 2SM Design, Manufacture, Installation, and Maintenance of Synthetic
Fibre Ropes for Offshore Mooring
6. DNVGL-OS-E301 Position Mooring
7. DNVGL-RP-E301 Design and Installation of Fluke Anchors
8. DNVGL-RP-E304 Damage Assessment of Fibre Ropes
9. Lloyds Register Rules for Classification Floating Units at Fixed location – Part 3
10. ABS Rules for Building and Classification of MODUs
11. ABS Guide for building and Classification of Floating Production Installations
12. GL Noble Denton: 0032/ND Guidelines for Moorings – Revision 2 December
2015
13. Operations Notice 30 Arrangements for Reporting of Offshore Incidents
http://www.hse.gov.uk/osdr/assets/docs/operations-notice-30-reporting-oil-gas-
incidents.pdf
14. Assessing compliance with the law in individual cases and the use of good
practice www.hse.gov.uk/risk/theory/alarp2.htm

Trim Ref: 2019/19168 Revised 13/05/2019 Page 10 of 10