The cost of weather in a floating oil production system

New oil fields are being developed in deeper water when conventional production systems are impractical. One alternative is the floating production, storage and off loading system: oil is extracted and stored on a moored, floating tanker while a shuttle tanker transports the oil between the field and the refinery port. However, when the weather is too rough, mooring and off loading has to be suspended. If there is inadequate storage capacity, oil production also stops, resulting in a costly interruption to the revenue flow. Simulation experiments with different design configurations can identify the economic optimum that minimises the financial impact of thr weather on the operation. However, not all of the uncertainties can be captured completely in a quantitative manner and sensitivity analyses suggest that a more robust configuration is a better option than the simple optimum.