Historical Development of the Offshore Industry
Historical Development of the Offshore Industry Victor A. Schmidt, Bruce Crager, and George Rodenbusch Endeavor Management, Houston, TX, USA design grew by applying fundamental principles to overcome 1 Introduction 1 increased current, wave, and storm activity, by developing 2 Exploration 1 new materials and standards, and by continuously improving 3 Drilling RIGS 3 safety systems. What follows is an overview of the major fixed and floating systems that enable the industry tofindand 4 Production 7 develop hydrocarbon resources in some of the most remote 5 Specialty Vessels 12 and inhospitable regions of the earth’s oceans. 6 Conclusion 14 Acknowledgments 15 Glossary 15 2 EXPLORATION Related Articles 16 To explore areas covered with water, geophysicists first References 16 adapted onshore geophysical equipment, sensor cables Further Reading 16 (streamers), and recording equipment, so that streamers could be towed behind a vessel of opportunity, giving birth to marine seismic acquisition. The industry devel- oped air guns to hold and released high-pressure pulses of 1 INTRODUCTION compressed air to “shoot” waves of sonic energy into the water and “illuminate” the rock formations below the seabed. The process for finding and developing oil and gas fields Vessels of opportunity, used to tow the equipment, were is sequential comprising three major stages: exploration, eventually replaced with purpose-built vessels, designed for drilling, and production. Offshore engineering is required the special needs of marine seismic acquisition. and has been applied throughout each of these stages, resulting in the industry’s steady advance into deeper water 2.1 Paradigm shift: 2D to 3D datasets and more challenging environments over the past 120 plus years.
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