The processing of E- and P-data from the Norwegian continental shelf

Section 57 of the Royal Decree of July 9, 1976 "relating to safe practice for the production, etc., of submarine petroleum resources," states that "the ministry may require that load-bearing structures shall be provided with instruments." Based on this section, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has issued "regulations for the recording and processing of E- and P-data." One aim of these regulations is to be a basis for collection and analysis of data of fixed installations (P-data) as well as data of the environment round the installations (E-data). The continuous recording of the different parameters, as required by the regulations, results in the accumulation of a tremendous amount of data. Further, the data must be verified, organized, and structured for later use in different types of calculations. A special organization and a data bank have been created to undertake the tasks of collecting the data from the installations, creating necessary tools (such as computer routines and programs) for receiving source data, and doing necessary analysis such as spectral analysis, stochastic dynamic behavior analysis, cumulative fatigue analysis, etc., and producing reports. Furthermore, an environmental center for E-data from the Norwegian continental shelf has been created and is being administrated by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Original E-data will be made publicly available upon request and data summaries and statistics will be published regularly. This data bank will also contain standard meteorological observations gathered on the continental shelf from ships, semi-submersibles, etc.