Guidelines Respecting Physical Environmental Programs during Petroleum Drilling and Production Activites on Frontier Lands

i) Instrumentation

A variety of instruments and techniques may be used to satisfy the objectives of these Guidelines. In addition, environmental conditions and site-specific requirements may vary from region to region, and measurement programs should be tailored for the particular geographic area of operation.

These Guidelines do not specify the types of instrumentation which should be used by an operator, but rather identify minimum standards with which the measurements should comply. Measurement programs should be described in sufficient detail and sufficiently far in advance to permit the Regulator to evaluate the suitability of the proposal to the exploration or development program under consideration. Operators considering in ice-infested or ice-covered waters, where conventional instrument deployment is difficult or impossible, should consider the use of bottom-founded or remote sensing instrumentation.

A description of the proposed instrumentation and its deployment configuration, which includes at minimum the items described in Section 1.0, should accompany the operator's proposal. Depending upon the nature of the proposed instrumentation, inclusion of the following also may be appropriate:

1. A description of instrument data sampling, processing, and storage/transmission features;
2. Calibration test results;
3. A description of oceanic characteristics in the intended region of operation which could influence the operation of the instrumentation or the validity of its measurements; and
4. For new technology instrumentation, an explanation of the principles, algorithms, and methodologies underlying its operation, including validation or extrapolation techniques as appropriate.

New technology instrumentation may be capable of obtaining much more information than is possible using conventional instruments. Operators using this instrumentation therefore are encouraged to acquire and archive data at more frequent depth and time intervals. Diagnostic data also should be archived to permit the evaluation of data quality and integrity.

Supplementary guidance for operators considering the use of Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) in place of conventional instrumentation is provided in Appendix 3 (hard copy only). ADCP data submissions should be in GF-3 format (MEDS, draft 1993)

ii) Standards

The results of the measurement programs are of most use when the data which are collected are consistent and complementary with those collected by other operators and by government agencies operating in the same areas. Therefore, the standards of measurement and the documentation set out in these Guidelines should be incorporated in the design of the operator's program.

The minimum specifications are described in Table I, Section 2.0(A) and relate to most areas, however due to the variability of environmental conditions, some drilling or production sites may dictate use of different specifications. Operators therefore are encouraged to choose the sensor ranges in consideration of anticipated conditions.

iii) Pooling of Resources

Operators in a particular area are encouraged to pool their resources and to consult with the appropriate government agencies (Table II, Section 5.0) with a view to conducting combined measurement programs. In all cases, to ensure appropriate flow of communications, the initial contact should be with the Regulator.

iv) Parameters to be Observed or Measured

An oceanographic measurement program should be designed to meet the objectives listed above. In most instances the following programs will suffice.

a) Moored Current Measurements:

The currents time-series should be measured, as a minimum, at three levels in the water column viz. near-surface in the anticipated wave zone, mid-depth, and near-bottom near each offshore installation. The vertical spacing between the three depths will depend upon the water depth and water mass characteristics at the particular site. The current measurements at mid-depth and near-bottom should be dynamically de-coupled from the anticipated surface waves.

All current measurements should include pressure, temperature, and conductivity as well as velocity. Pressure, temperature, and salinity data provide information on identification of water masses and complement water movement data provided by the velocity measurements. Temperature and salinity should be measured on a regular basis as agreed to in consultation with the Regulator. Specifications for the measurements are given in Table I, Section 2.0(A). All current meters should have a sampling interval no longer than one-half hour and if possible the meters should start sampling "on the hour".

Moorings or deployments should be maintained in one location for as long as possible and need not be moved with every relocation of the offshore installation in a particular area. Consideration should be given to mooring or deployment longevity rather than relocation, whenever possible. Both the location and design of the moorings or deployment must be approved by the Regulator prior to deployment.

The data should be reported in a Current Meter Data Report, the format of which is prescribed in Section 2.0(B)(v).

b) Real Time Current Profiles:

In anticipation of operational requirements for drilling, diving support, iceberg, oil spill trajectory prediction, emergency response, contingency plans, or for other reasons, the operator must satisfy the Regulator that he has the ability to make real time current measurements, including profiling measurements, as required. The methods approved will depend upon the area of operation, depth of water, geometry of the drilling unit, and the purposes for which the measurements might be needed.

If systematic measurements are made, the data should be reported in a format to be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Regulator. The Regulator may request that this equipment be tested or inspected from time to time to ensure that it would be available for emergency use.

c) Tidal Elevations:

Tide measurements may be required at some locations. All tidal measurements should be made to the specifications set down by the Canadian Hydrographic service (Forrester, 1983) and in Table I. Pressure-activated tide gauges may be placed either in the current meter moorings, on their own separate moorings, or on the blowout preventer stack if suitably insulated from vibration. A recording interval of no more than one hour is required, and instruments should be started "on the hour".

The instrument data tape should be provided to the Regulator, for archival and constituent analysis. Provision of the instrument data tape and the Instrument Log Sheet (Section 2.0(E)) to the Regulator will fulfil all reporting requirements although operators are encouraged to perform their own analyses. The period of measurement should be shown on the bar chart in the Current Meter Data Report.

i) Types of Reports

As part of the Final Well History Report, two oceanographic data reports are usually required from each offshore installation, although they may be submitted within the same covers. The first should contain a documentation and summary of all oceanographic measurements, with the exception of the wave data, made by the operator. The second should contain the wave data. In all cases, the object of these reports is to report data. It is neither necessary, nor desirable, to mix speculations about the meaning of the data in with the actual data. The data report should contain a hard copy record of all details of calibration and deployment that are recorded on the tape header, and any additional data that the operator thinks would be useful in the quality control and analysis of the data. Operators are not encouraged to provide lengthy, printed listings of data.

All data reports should be signed with the name of the individual who was responsible for its production and who is able to answer specific questions about the data contained in the report.

ii) Oceanographic Data Storage Media

All data collected in the oceanographic program, with the exception of tidal data, should be submitted to the Regulator on acceptable data storage media and in a format suitable for archiving at MEDS and either BIO or IOS. These submissions should be written in GF-3 format (MEDS, 1985b), which has been adopted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for the international exchange of oceanographic data. Information on this format, some computer programs for handling it, and training are available from MEDS.

Each data storage medium should contain both the raw, unedited data and also the edited, filtered, hourly data used in the construction of the data report.

The GF-3 header block should contain the following information, in ASCII format:

iii) Archiving of data

Data storage media and reports will be archived at MEDS. Data collected on the East Coast and the Eastern Arctic will also be archived with BIO, while data collected on the West Coast and the Western Arctic will also be archived with IOS. Data reports, but not magnetic tapes or floppy diskettes, will be archived by the Regulator.

Operators should either archive the original instrument tapes at BIO, IOS, or MEDS or provide clear descriptions of their own archival facilities and submit an acceptable plan to ensure the proper archiving and retrieval of the instrument tapes.

iv) Submission of Data and Reports

Operators must submit, to the Regulator, four copies of each of their Oceanographic and Wave Data Reports and one copy of the associated GF-3 data storage media within 90 days of the rig release date in the case of exploratory drilling programs, or annually (on a calendar year basis) in the case of production programs.

v) Current Meter Data Report Format

The current meter report format is designed so that all information useful for archiving the raw data is collected in one place and that an overview of the data collected may be obtained without further processing. It should, therefore, be in four sections: an archival section, a data plot section, an analysis section, and a statistical summary section. The object, in all cases, is to present the information in as concise a form as possible, with a minimal amount of text.

To aid in comparing reports, standards of presentation have been set and should be adhered to, except when prior agreement has been made with the Regulator. Note that time must be reported in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and that SI units must be used throughout the report.

i) Instrumentation

The wave-sensing device should be an instrument designed for the accurate measurement of the spectra of wind waves. Specifications are given in Table I.

Broad-band noise on the sensor/recording system should contribute not more than 0.05 m to the significant wave height obtained by integrating between wave periods of 2 and& 30 seconds. Narrow-band noise should contribute not more than 0.01 m to the RMS value of the signal in any one-second period band between 2 and 30 seconds.

All wave measuring devices that have transmitting devices must be approved and licensed by DOC. Each time such a measuring device is installed or removed, the regional offices of the DOC must be notified.

Operators are advised to check that their proposed wave measurement instruments are acceptable to the Regulator. If instruments unfamiliar to the Regulator are proposed, companies may be required to submit at-sea validation data for the first deployment of a new instrument, demonstrating that the instrument meets the required specifications. MEDS will aid in providing an appropriate comparison buoy and the necessary data processing for the inter-comparison if requested well in advance. As stated in Section 2.0(A)(i), these Guidelines do not specify what instrumentation should be used for wave measurement program. The operator should provide all the information cited in Section 1.0 and 2.0(A)( i) in order for the Regulator to ascertain the merits of the proposed instrumentation and make a decision on its suitability to the particular exploration or development application.

Supplementary guidance for operators considering the use of Marine Wave Radar systems in place of conventional instrumentation is provided in Appendix 3 (hard copy only).

ii) Location

The wave measuring instrument should be located so that the wave field being measured is not disturbed by the offshore installation and located sufficiently close to the installation so that reliable communications between the wave instrument and the receiver on the installation are maintained. The instrument should also be located so that the wave field being measured is not substantially altered from that at the site of the installation because of sheltering, bottom effects, etc., or in general have a different exposure to prevailing conditions.

Moorings or deployments should be maintained in one location for as long as possible and need not be moved with every relocation of the offshore installation in a particular area. Consideration should be given to mooring or deployment longevity rather than relocation, whenever possible. Operators, in a particular area are encouraged to pool their resources and to consult with the appropriate government agencies (Table II, Section 5.0) with a view to conducting combined measurement programs.

iii) Recording Interval

The recording periods should be between 17.5 and 35 minutes in length and should occur at least once every 3 hours.

When the significant wave height exceeds 4 m or the wind speed is greater than 17.5 m/s (34 knots), continuous recordings of the wave height should be made. Continuous recording should consist of successive records of duration equal to those made in the normal recording scheme. The individual records should be analyzed as such, rather than as one very long, continuous record.

iv) Calibration

All instruments should be calibrated before and after all deployments and in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications.

Calibrations should be performed at least at periods of 3, 5, 12, 20 and 27 seconds. Calibration data used in correcting the raw data should be supplied as part of the wave data reports.

If the observed wave height is beyond the calibration/validation range of the instrumentation, a detailed description on how the extrapolation was achieved should be provided with the wave data report.

v) Analysis Procedure

Data should be spectrally analyzed by either the Fourier transform or MEM methods, as described in Wilson and Baird (1981) or Godin (1982).Operators using non-conventional instrumentation should provide the various algorithms and methodologies used in obtaining the final results.

i) Wave Data Format

One copy of the wave data on acceptable data storage media should be submitted to the Regulator in the GF-3 format (MEDS, 1985a). Format information is available from MEDS on the standard subsets for one dimensional and directional wave spectra and surface elevation time series. The data which are provided should include both the wave spectra and the surface elevation time series and one dimensional and directional spectra if an instrument which measures two-dimensional spectra is used. MEDS can supply a certain amount of software to assist in developing computer systems to write the necessary GF-3 subsets.

ii) Wave Data Report Format

The purpose of the wave data report is to provide both archival data and an overview of the data collected. Four copies of the wave data report should be submitted to the Regulator, as appropriate. The report should contain the following products:

i) Methods of Measurement

The measurement of meteorological parameters requires the use of instruments which meet or exceed the standards set by the WMO and/or AES. Instruments must be capable of measuring the extremes of a particular parameter in the area of operation. For a detailed description of instrument specifications, contact the National Director General, Weather Services Directorate, AES Headquarters (Table III, Section 5.0).

All offshore installations should be equipped with wind instrumentation that will provide automatic computer-averaged read-outs using a ten-minute interval for MANMAR synoptic observations and a two-minute averaging interval for SAWRS hourly observations.

ii) Parameters to be Observed or Measured

The following is a list of the parameters to be observed or measured:

• Wind Speed and Direction
• Barometric Pressure
• Air Temperature
• Dew Point
• Sea Surface Temperature
• Sky Condition
• Present and Past Weather
• Visibility
• Ice Accretion
• Sea State
• Sea Ice/Icebergs/Ice Islands
• Precipitation - Liquid precipitation measurements may be required for selected offshore installation.

iii) Frequency of Observations

The above standard meteorological parameters should be coded in MANMAR format and transmitted to AES for domestic and international distribution every 3 hours. Hourly and special meteorological observations in support of aviation operations in accordance with the SAWRS manuals are required at most sites. These reports should also be transmitted to AES for distribution. Operators are encouraged, however, to record and transmit hourly observations at all times. When the significant wave height exceeds 4 m and/or the 10 minute average wind speed exceeds 17.5 m/s (34 knots), wind and wave parameters should be monitored as continuously as possible. These figures may be reduced to reflect operational requirements.

Synoptic marine observations provided according to the MANMAR Manual should adhere to the provisions under sections 4.7 and 4.8 of MANMAR Amendment No. 2. Furthermore, specifications under sections 4.7.1 and 4.8.1 of the amendment should be applied in the following manner:

Additional amendment notifications will be included in this document when determined by AES and approved by the Regulator.

iv) Installation, Maintenance, and Inspection of Instrumentation

Officials of AES (Table III) responsible for the area of operation should be consulted on the installation of equipment in order to ensure optimum positioning of the instruments on the offshore installation.

Procurement, installation, and maintenance of the equipment are the responsibility of the operator. Technical questions relating to instruments should be directed to the Regional Director of the appropriate AES Region (see Table III, Section 5.0). The operator should have the meteorological instrumentation on each offshore installation inspected by an AES Port Meteorological Officer or other designated official for the appropriate region before the unit commences its drilling or production program and periodically during the program. Inspection trips by AES will be coordinated through the Regulator.

The observing programs aboard the offshore installation will be monitored by the Regulator.

v) Training

The observers taking meteorological and ice observations on the offshore installation must have successfully completed approved training dealing with the procedures for observing, recording, and reporting weather and ice parameters. All offshore observers must be qualified to take both marine and aviation observations in accordance with the appropriate MANMAR and/or SAWRS manuals and be currently certified by AES to take SAWRS observations. Observers must also be familiar with the contents of the MODU Supplementary Instructions/MANMAR (COGLA 1990a) and the MODU Supplementary Instructions/SAWRS (COGLA 1990b).

Personnel who have been certified by AES to take SAWRS observations, are qualified to observe and record only. This training is considered minimal and does not qualify the observers to interpret meteorological forecasts and/or weather charts.

In areas where drilling or production operations may be affected by pack ice, icebergs, or ice islands, observers should have technical competency in ice monitoring including:

• ice detection and monitoring equipment
• ice coding and tracking techniques
• ice plotting techniques
• iceberg dimension measuring techniquesl; and
• interpretation of remote sensing imagery

Observers should also be familiar with ice management practices and techniques in the area of operation.

All efforts should be made to ensure that an experienced observer is present on each offshore installation at all times, particularly in areas when ice monitoring or management activities are required.

vi) Recording of Observations

Meteorological observations should be recorded in the appropriate log book or computer data base in accordance with the procedures outlined in MANMAR and SAWRS manuals. These log books and manuals are available from the Regional Director, AES.

When completed, the log books or computer data base printouts should be submitted to the Regional Director in the respective AES region. All meteorological observations will be quality controlled and archived at AES headquarters in Downsview, Ontario.

i) Meteorological Summary Report Format

The report should include:

i) Site-Specific Forecast Services

The operators must arrange for site-specific weather and sea state forecasts in support of their operations. These should meet the needs of both normal and emergency operations and should be at least equivalent in quality and accuracy to forecast services provided by the AES.

The forecast should be consistent with AES core forecast guidance for the area and should be prepared by qualified meteorologists familiar with AES guidance, practices, and procedures. Emphasis in these site-specific forecasts should be on increased spatial and temporal detail.

If a major departure from the AES regional forecast appears warranted, the forecaster preparing the site-specific service should consult with the appropriate AES Weather Centre. Any AES Weather Warning in effect for the drilling areas must be mentioned.

Consultants providing forecast services should be familiar with the requirements for forecast services contained in the operator's Contingency and Response Plans.

Essential elements of the site-specific forecast service include:

In order for forecasts to be of acceptable quality and accuracy, the addition of observation stations to the existing network may be necessary. The Regulator, in consultation with AES, will provide guidance concerning deployment of additional stations.

ii) Aviation Weather Forecast Services

Transport Canada, CATA, requires that area aviation weather forecasts (FA) be available to support aviation services to offshore installations or remote shore bases. These forecasts are provided by AES. At the present time, CATA has no requirement for aviation aerodrome forecasts (FTs) for offshore installations. However, if the operator has a requirement for FTs, arrangements should be made through the regional CATA office (Table III, Section 5.0).

In support of the FA program, aviation observations in accordance with SAWRS standards are required.

Current observations of altimeter setting in addition to wind speed and direction to SAWRS standards, for relay to pilots on approach to installation, will be required for instrument approach to the lowest descent altitude.

The operator should operate an aviation observing program from two hours prior to a flight to or from the identified offshore installation (or remote location) until the time that the flight terminates and make such observations immediately available to AES networks. Alternately, the operator may provide the aviation program continuously or from 0600 to 2100 Local Standard (or Daylight) Time each day to minimize the number of requests to manage such a program.