A look at work in the U.S. on specifications for coatings for offshore structures

The NACE international has developed testing standards for coatings for offshore structures. Various task groups led by Shell (Houston and New Orleans) set up within NACE to develop standards for prequalification testing for various offshore equipments. Shell (Houston) prepared initial draft standards based on testing carried out within Shell that included TG260, Offshore Platform Maintemance Coatings, TG263, Ballast Water Tank Coatings, and TG264, Exterior protective Coatings for Steel Structure for Sea Water Immersion. The NACE testing standards include a cyclic corrosion test that help to evaluate coatings performance against various testing conditions which would help indicate how a coating system would perform when subjected to situations intended to reproduce stresses identified on failure/breakdown on structures as the root cause such as edge coverage.