ISO 35104:2018

Overview

ISO 35104:2018 - "Petroleum and natural gas industries - Arctic operations - Ice management" establishes principles, requirements and practical guidance for ice management (IM) in the Arctic and other cold regions. The standard covers planning, engineering, implementation and documentation of IM activities where sea ice, icebergs and icing pose operational risk. It applies to offshore petroleum and natural gas operations (drilling, production, construction, seismic, oil spill response, tanker offloading, protection of subsea assets and fixed or mobile platforms) and to mobilization/demobilization support, but excludes coastal port operations and commercial transit vessels.

Key technical topics and requirements

ISO 35104 defines a structured approach to ice management with emphasis on safety, data quality and operational readiness. Major topics include:

• Ice management system fundamentals - principles for designing, implementing and documenting an IM system, including redundancy and safety-by-design.
• Ice Management Plan (IM plan) - scope, implementation, maintenance and lifecycle requirements for operational plans.
• Ice alert system and zoning - definitions for alert levels, monitoring, management, secure and exclusion zones.
• Risk management and safety - hazard identification, consequence assessment, HSE planning, incident reporting and continuous improvement.
• Data, forecasting and nowcasting - required ice and metocean parameters, data collection, quality control, timelines and forecast accuracy for tactical to strategic planning.
• Ice detection and tracking - system capabilities, detection/tracking criteria and operational integration.
• Threat evaluation and response - threat evaluation strategies, T-time/T-distance concepts, closest point of approach and response decision points.
• Performance monitoring - measures of IM performance, operational readiness, degradation handling and documentation.
• Organizational procedures - roles, communication, training and documentation requirements for safe learning and operations.

Note: ISO 35104 provides guidance rather than specific load calculations or structural design rules. Ice load formulations are addressed in ISO 19906.

Practical applications and who uses this standard

ISO 35104 is used to reduce operational risk and improve decision-making in cold-region offshore projects. Typical users include:

• Offshore operators and project managers planning Arctic drilling, production, construction or seismic work
• HSE and emergency-response teams developing ice contingency and oil-spill plans
• Ice-management service providers (forecasting, surveillance, escort vessels)
• Engineers and planners responsible for mobilization/demobilization and marine logistics
• Regulators and auditors assessing compliance and safety of Arctic operations

Related standards

• ISO 19906 - Arctic offshore structures (ice load formulations and design) - complements ISO 35104 by covering structural ice loads and design considerations.

Keywords: ISO 35104, ice management, Arctic operations, petroleum and natural gas, ice alert system, ice detection and tracking, ice management plan, cold regions operations, forecasting, risk management.