Current Press Releases OIL & GAS UK GUIDELINES FOR SAFER MOORING OF VESSELS UNDER SPOTLIGHT AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Oil & Gas UK's recently published guidelines to promote safer mooring of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs) were today (12 November 2008) presented to 150 delegates from all over the world at The FPSO Research Forum in Bilbao, Spain. A joint industry project on mooring integrity, which reported at the end of 2005, highlighted incidents in the UK and overseas where mooring lines had been damaged or failed. Paul Dymond, Oil & Gas UK's operations director, said: "Oil & Gas UK, in conjunction with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), recognised that the safety of FPSOs could be enhanced by providing guidance to operators for the design of new moorings, and the maintenance of existing moorings. The new guidelines address the causes of the failures identified through the joint industry project and illustrate how existing practices in design, installation and monitoring can be made more robust." Ian Williams, Marine Support for Wood Group, and chairman of the workgroup that developed the Mooring Integrity Guidance, commented: "The Research Forum offers a great opportunity to promote the principles of mooring integrity to a very wide, international industry audience. The delegates here are not only mooring experts but FPSO operators and key decision makers." The new mooring integrity guidance notes are now available on the Oil & Gas UK website at http://www.oilandgas.org.uk/ukooa/newpublications/index.cfm. ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS 1.      Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry.  Its members are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in UK waters and those who form any part of the industry's supply chain. 2.      The FPSO Research Forum is being held at the office of Vicinay Cadenas in Bilbao, Spain. For more information, please see www.fpsoforum.com For further information, please contact:   Sally Fraser Oil & Gas UK Media Relations                    2nd Floor                                                        232-242 Vauxhall Bridge Road       London SW1V 1AU                                      Tel:     020 7802 2404 Email:             sfraser@oilandgasuk.co.uk Pager :           07659 183 999 Website :        http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk 12/11/08