The Next Level of Offshore Safety

What does it mean to be DNV 2.7-2 certified? Well, that depends on who is answering: To me, someone heavily involved in manufacturing mobile equipment for the offshore O&G market, it means achieving a standard with stringent – yet, clearly defined – steps to ensure compliance in hazardous drilling areas. To the person that signs Declarations of Conformity, it means additional confidence that the product is complying with the very latest safety standards. To an operator on a drillship in the North Sea, it could mean life or death
 

DNV 2.7-2 CERTIFICATION 

Det Norske Veritas (DNV) first published DNV 2.7-2 in 1995 as the standard to certify offshore service modules. In 2013, DNV 2.7-2 was extended to cover all types of temporary equipment used in offshore/marine applications, including well test production equipment, compressors and diesel engines.

The Certificate for Offshore Service Module - DNV Standard for Certification 2.7-2 states the following:  

This is to certify that the module has been designed, examined and tested in compliance with DNV Standard for Certification 2.7-2 (2013). The documentation package has been stamped approved and hereby found to be complete and as built. The certificate includes an appendix which is to be considered as a part of the certificate. 

Certification is issued with/without deviations from the Certification Standard. Any Deviations are listed in the Appendix to this certificate. The end user must satisfy themselves that these deviations from the Standard are acceptable with regard to their intended use. (….)


OUR EXPERIENCE

Recently, AXON completed the manufacture of a fully compliant, Zone II DNV 2.7-2 Steam Generator for RentAir Offshore. As this Steam Generator is one of the first of its kind in the industry (at least one or two deviations are typical), I thought I’d share our experience while applying the new Standard. 

The excerpt above illustrates that DNV 2.7-2 certification can still be issued with deviations, providing that all deviations are included in the Certificate’s Appendix section. However, RentAir and AXON sought to strictly adhere to DNV 2.7-2’s Standard for Certification to ascertain the highest degree of safety possible.

Noteworthy is the fact that the Steam Generator is for use on a drillship and therefore required a very compact footprint – the entire product was packaged in a single, 20’ container. It’s safe (no pun intended) to say our engineers overcame quite a few challenges to determine the optimal design. Their to-do list was not for the faint of heart; it included extreme space restrictions, high performance requirements, and ease of maintenance… in addition to DNV 2.7-2’s Standard for Certification with zero deviations.  

I will not bore you by detailing each specific step we undertook to ensure full compliance. However, the main takeaway is this: Compared to other standards, the steps laid out for DNV 2.7-2 are prescriptive and fairly black and white. This allowed us to have a very clear pathway to remain upon in order to reach the goal. (As we all know, planning the correct path can be the hardest part of any journey.) 


NEW ERA OF SAFETY

DNV 2.7-2’s straightforward Standard for Certification consists of a single document derived from several existing standards for temporary and transportable equipment.  By referencing various applicable standards (rather than trying to write new ones), DNV is simply recommending the best tried and tested safety measures.  

Like us, many manufacturers involved in the offshore industry saw the new Standard as a rather welcome change, as we all typically manufacture to more subjective standards. Final approval could often be dependent on inspectors with varying interpretations.

Although challenging, we are very happy with the decision to comply fully without any deviations. This, within itself, is something that my AXON colleagues and I are certainly proud of. We were aware this chosen route could be extremely difficult, and our road was definitely not without obstacles. However, in the end, we accomplished our goal of engineering a high-performance, fully compliant Zone II DNV 2.7-2 Steam Generator within a compact, single lift solution. 

So, what does it mean to be DNV 2.7-2 certified? In AXON's case, it demonstrates another example of how we evolve for our customers by embracing new industry standards. We look forward to the bright future ahead as we continue our quest to deliver innovative, technology-focused solutions. 

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences around DNV 2.7-2.

Copyright © 2019 AXON Pressure Products, Inc., All Rights Reserved
12606 N. Houston Rosslyn Rd. ∙ Houston, TX 77086 ∙ 713.581.2515