History of Offshore Industry

It is a very interesting question the industry started in 1891 very old a first oil well was drilled at
grand lake Saint Mary’ Sohio you straight 1896 first submerged oil wells in salt water were drilled
in the Summerl and field I showed in the photograph of that in santa Barbara channel in California
followed by which in 1900 early submerged drilling activities started taking place in lake Erie on
Canadian side 1910 Caddo lake in Louisiana at the first offshore platform 1920 the drilling started
concrete structures in lake Maracaibo Venezuela which is showed a photograph 1920 three the
oldest subsea well was recorded in construction in bibieibat well Azerbaijan in 1930 texas
company developed the first mobile steel barges which are men for drilling and exploration of oil
In 1937 the pure oil company now a part of chevron corporation and superior oil company we is
now a part of ExxonMobil corporation used a fixed platform to develop a field at a very small
depth of 4.2 meter only which is offshore at one mile from Calcasieu parish in Louisiana. So, you
can the depth of water exploration was as low as 4.2 meters as an the structure was constructed as
close as one mile from the beach in 1946 magnolia petroleum company which now a part of
exxonmobil erected a drilling platform in depth of this 5.4 meter deep which a 18 miles off the
coast of Saint Mary Parish in Louisiana 1947 superior oil erected a drilling production platform in
6 meter depth at vermilion Parish in Louisiana. Sub oil industries which are now Anadarko
petroleum corporation finished petroleum which is know Conoco Phillips stanoilind oil and gas
which is bp completed in historical ship shoal block 32 well in October 1947 which is one of the
major exploration of the oil industry in the country of another state.

Offshore Drilling and Production Platforms/Units

To drill an oil/gas well in the middle of sea or ocean, it is essential to have some platform on which
necessary drilling equipment and other accessories and ancillaries can be placed. Depending on
whether the type of well is exploratory or development in nature, the type of platform can be fixed
or mobile. The term platform signifies some type of structure and in between these two major types
of structures there is one more category known as a compliant type platform, which has its own
application. Thus, depending on the number of wells to be drilled, the type of facilities to be
installed on the topside, for example, oil rig, living quarters, helipad and so on, the depth of water,
that is, shallow (<350 m), deep (350–1500 m), or ultradeep (>1500 m), practicality of methods of
construction, fabrication and installation, meteorology and oceanography and finally the
economics which vary globally from place to place, offshore platforms can be broadly categorized
into TWO types:
 1. Bottom-Supported Structures
A) Fixed platform
B) Compliant platform
2. Mobile platform/units

1. Bottom-Supported Structures-Fixed Structures

Bottom supported structures are either “fixed” such as jackets and gravity base structures, or
“compliant” such as the guyed tower and the compliant tower. Bottom-founded structures, with
the notable exception of the Gravity Base Structures (GBS e.g. Condeeps), are typically
constructed from welded steel tubular members. These members act as a truss supporting the
weight of the processing equipment, and the environmental forces from waves, wind and current.
Bottom-founded structures are called “fixed” when their lowest natural frequency of flexural
motion is above the highest frequency of significant wave excitation. They behave as a rigid body
and must resist the full dynamic forces of the environment.

Fixed type platforms are those whose leg or base is fixed at the seabed forever either by way of
penetration to the seabed or by its own weight. Moreover, they remain fixed at one place and
cannot be moved to any location. Such structures are generally very stiff. On the other hand, the
mechanical properties will cause lot of rigidity to the structure. So, because of the stiffness imposed
of the structural system, they tend to attract more environmental forces acting on them. On the
other hand, alternatively, if you have the flexible system which is less stiff compare to this then
the forces attracted to the offshore structures could be for lesser than the top of the stiff system.
However, the greatest advantage is the response these forces by the platform is relatively very low.

But, this is very great demerit in this kind of structure. They are very expensive; the structural
system will be very expensive. In the early stage of oil exploration, these kind of platforms is very
popular. Then now these kinds of platform are practically obsolete for oil and gas exploration
because these platforms can be deployed only in shallow medium waters, unfortunately the
shallow in medium waters we do not have oil deserve for exploration now. Therefore, these types
of platforms are completely and practically obsolete in the presence stage.

Different types of fixed platforms are

1. Jacketed platform:

2. Gravity platform
Bottom-Supported Structures –Compliant Structures
“Compliant” bottom-founded structures are usually designed so that their lowest natural frequency
is below the energy in the waves. Waves, wind and current cause these structures to deflect, but
the magnitude of the dynamic loads is greatly reduced. This allows economical bottom-founded
structures to be designed for water depths, which would not be practical for fixed structures.

Floating Offshore Structures

Floating structures have various degrees of compliancy. They can be viewed either as “neutrally
buoyant” such as the semi-submersible-based FPSs, ship-shaped FPSOs and monocolumn Spars,
or “positively buoyant”, such as the Tension Leg Platforms. Neutrally buoyant structures, such as
semi-submersibles, Spars and Drillships are dynamically unrestrained and are allowed to have six
degrees of freedom (heave, surge, sway, pitch, roll and yaw). Positively buoyant structures. such
as the Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs) and Tethered Buoyant Towers (TBTs) or Buoyant Leg
Structures (BLS) are tethered to the seabed and are heave-restrained. All of these structures with
global compliancy are structurally rigid. Compliancy is achieved with the mooring system. The
sizing of floating structures is dominated by considerations of buoyancy and stability. Topside
weight for these structures is more critical than it is for a bottom-founded structure.

Semi-submersibles and ship-shaped hulls rely on water plane area for stability. The centre of
gravity is typically above the center of buoyancy. The Spar platform is designed so that its centre
of gravity is lower than its center of buoyancy, hence it is intrinsically stable. Positively buoyant
structures depend on a combination of waterplane area and tether stiffness to achieve stability.

Floating structures are typically constructed from stiffened plate panels, which make up a
displacement body. This method of construction involves different processes than those used in
tubular construction for bottom-founded structures.

Neutrally buoyant floating structure motions can be accurately determined as a single six-degrees
of freedom system subjected to excitation forces. Positively buoyant floating structures in deep
water will have restraining systems with substantial mass, and the restraining systems are subjected
to excitation forces as well. The motions of the platform are coupled with the dynamics of the
mooring system. The coupling of motions between the platform, risers and mooring systems
becomes increasingly more important as water depth increases.

Bottom-Supported Fixed Structures

The fixed structure installed most often around the world consists of the following, as shown in
figure 8–1:
 The jacket, the steel structure that rises from the seabed to above the waterline
 The deck , where the drilling and production equipment (the topsides) sits, located atop the
jacket
 The pilings, steel cylinders that secure the platform to the seabed
  The conductors or risers, steel pipes through which the wells are drilled, completed, and
produced

In contrast to onshore structures, the platform is built from tubular steel members, not Structural
shapes. These cylindrical shapes create the lowest resistance to waves and currents, reducing the
amount of steel and ultimately the weight and the bill for the platform. The deck legs, which
connect to the jacket, are typically tubular, to allow for easier geometric fit. Additionally, in many
cases, the deck legs extend downward to near the waterline and are vulnerable to wave action in
high seas. The deck itself is above water, so traditional square-edged structural pieces are as
common as those found on an onshore operation or any heavily loaded high-rise building. The
steel jackets are typically built on their side, that is, rotated 90 degrees from their final installed
position. This keeps the construction yard heights under control, but does require an innovative
approach to load-out and launch of these structures.

Minimal Platforms

High oil and gas prices are encouraging the independents and majors to take a fresh look at the
technology and concepts required to develop marginal shallow water fields using a minimal
platform approach. Many major oil companies are leaving the continental shelf or shifting their
emphasis to deepwater and independent producers are filling the void.
The change has renewed interest in marginal fields in order to quickly capture the revenue from
the high oil and gas prices. The economic incentives for the operators and a new wave of concepts
by minimal platform designers are causing a renaissance in the technology and use of minimal
platforms. In exploring concepts, minimal platform designers and operators are looking at deck
simplification, minimalization of environmental impact, low visit design, reusable solutions,
alternative installation solutions, platform automation, and transfer of technology to deepwater.

Figure: Minimal Platforms

For the marginal field development in shallow water, fixed production platforms with a small
deck are often used. At a minimum these structures may support the following:
(1) a few wells typically less than 10:
(2) a small deck with enough space to handle a coil tubing or wireline unit;
(3) a test separator and a well header;
(4) a small crane;
( 5 ) a boat landing; and
(6) a minimum helideck.

Jacket Structures
The jacket, or template, structures are still the most common offshore structures used for drilling
and production. Some structures contain enlarged legs, which are suitable for self-buoyancy during
its installation at the site. Fixed jacket structures consist of tubular members interconnected to form
a three-dimensional space frame. These structures usually have four to eight legs battered to
achieve stability against toppling in waves. Main piles, which are tubular are usually carried with
the jackets and driven through the jacket legs into the seafloor. The term jacket structure has
evolved from the concept of providing an enclosure (“jacket”) for the well conductors. These
platforms generally support a superstructure having 2 or 3 decks with drilling and production
equipment and workover rigs. They are used for moderate water depths up to 400 M. The use of
these platforms has generally been limited to a water depth of about 500-600 ft (150-180 m) in the
harsh North Sea environment (typical design wave of 100 ft130 m). In the more intermediate Gulf
of Mexico environment (typical design wave of 75 ft’23 m) half a dozen jackets have been installed
in deeper water.

Figure: Jacketed Platforms

 Gravity Base Structures
Offshore structures that are placed on the seafloor and held in place by their weight are called
gravity structures. Thus these structures do not require additional help from piles or anchors. These
structures are quite suited for production and storage of oil. They are built near-shore location or
sheltered water, such as, fjords. Upon construction they are towed in the upright position to the
final destination and submerged in place. It is often possible to carry the topside deck with the
structure. Because of the nature of these platforms, they are often susceptible to scour of their
foundation and sinkage.
The largest steel gravity structure was placed in 1984 in the UK Maureen field and operated by
Phillips Petroleum. It had served its usefulness after about 20 years of operation and recently, has
been floated up from site for its removal. Since the gravity structures require large volume and
high weight, concrete has been a common material for gravity structures. In 1975, the first concrete
structure called “Condeep B” in deepwater was built at the Stavanger, Norway fjord and placed in
the Beryl field. Phillips Petroleum installed a one million barrel storage capacity platform at the
Norwegian Ekofisk field. It has a unique perforated outer wall, which was installed to dissipate
wave energy from the structure. The platform underwent major renovation due to subsidence from
depleted oil in the field and recently stopped its operation.

Figure: Gravity Based Structures

Jack-ups
The jack-up barges are typically three-legged structures having a deck supported on their legs. The
legs are made of tubular truss members. The deck is typically buoyant. The jackups are used for
the exploratory drilling operation and, therefore, are designed to move from site to site. The jack-
up barges are towed while supported by the buoyancy of their own hull. Sometimes, they are
transported on top of transport barges. They are called jackups because once at the drilling site,
the legs are set on the ocean bottom and the deck is jacked up on these legs above the waterline.
The jack-up barges behave like the stationary platform during the drilling operation.

Figure: JackUp Rig

Compliant Structures

The word compliant has a specific meaning in the literature, compliant stands for mobility,
flexibility or movement; anything which moves is said to be compliant. Compliant platforms are
those structures that extend from above the surface to the ocean bottom and directly anchored to
the seafloor by piles and/or guidelines. When they are anchored to the sea bed using a mooring
cable then one can expect that the system has a freedom to move laterally under the lateral loads
or under the excited environmental loads. Now various loads which are exciting this kind offshore
structure are wave loads, wind loads, current loads etc. Under these lateral forces the structure or
the platform will have a degree of freedom to move lateral direction.
These structures essentially rely on a restoring buoyancy force. So, the basic principle of design is
to maintain the weight of the structure lower than that of the buoyancy.
Now, as the buoyancy force has a tendency to push the structure in upward direction and to hold
down the structure, cables or tethers or simple mooring lines are used to hold down the structure
in position. Therefore, the structures essentially depend on the excessive or the restoring buoyancy
force to maintain the stability under the lateral movements. These structures actually avoid
resonance, because the operating frequency of these kinds of systems is differently located in band
width of that of the wave frequencies. As they structures are flexible they generate tend to attract
lesser forces. They are suitable for deep waters. The use of compliant platforms becomes more
important especially when the water depth starts increasing beyond 1000 ft because at that point
the fixed platforms reach their technical and commercial limit. As the depth increases (>1000 ft),
the base of fixed structures becomes too large and also the thickness of steel members needs to
become more because the dynamic interaction between waves and structures reaches critical limits
for the template platform. These structures are typically designed to have their lowest modal
frequency to be below the wave energy, as opposed to the fixed structures, which have a first
modal frequency greater than the frequency of wave energy.

A compliant offshore structure, comprising:

 a base adapted to be supported on the ocean floor;
 a substantially vertical tower extending upward from said base to a position proximate the
ocean surface;
 a deck supported on said tower, said deck and tower together having a net negative
buoyancy in normal operation of said structure;
 a joint establishing the interface between said tower and said base, said joint being
articulated to permit said tower to pivot about said base;
 a cable anchorage secured to said tower at a spaced distance above said articulated joint;
 a cable anchorage on said base; and,
 a plurality of cables each having a first end secured to said base cable anchorage and a
second end secured to said tower cable anchorage, said cables being tensioned and being
arranged in an array surrounding the longitudinal axis of said tower.

Guyed Tower
One classical marine structure, which is meant for medium and deep water depths, is what we
called guyed tower. A guyed tower may be applicable in deep hostile waters where the loads on
the gravity base or jacket-type structures from the environment are prohibitively high. Guyed
tower is generally deployed for performing both operations namely drilling and production as well.
Guyed towers are found to be suitable for a water depth varying from one 80 meters to as high as
600 meters. The vital components of a guyed tower shown in the picture, which clearly shows that
it has got the classical depth, which houses or facilities that are required for drilling and production
as well.

A guyed tower is a slender structure made up of truss members, which rests on the ocean floor and
is held in place by a symmetric array of catenary guylines. The truss supports the deck and the
truss is founded to the foundation of the sea bed using Spud Can systems. Spud Can offers lot of
degree of freedom in terms of its rotation whereas the tower will be only position restrain. So,
Spud Can is a hypothetically support condition by the name hinged support at the foundation
system. The tower is anchored to the sea bed in addition to the support given by the Spud Can by
means of cables i.e. mooring lines or guy lines or guy wires or guy ropes. This mooring lines
essentially of centenary type of profile, which is connected to the tower at the specific point; this
point where the mooring line touches or connects the truss system or the tower is call fairly. A
point, where the mooring line touches the foundation is what we call as touchdown point. At the
touch down point, anchors and clump weights are provided to fall down the mooring line in
position.

The mooring line which passes through the fairly will be then connected to hydraulic jacking
system on the deck, where required tension on this line will be applied here. So, the tension on the
mooring line can be adjusted depending upon the water action or the wave action as depending
upon the hydraulic system or the jacking system available on the deck itself. The guylines typically
have several segments. The upper part is a lead cable, which acts as a stiff spring in moderate seas.
The lower portion is a heavy chain with clump weights, which are lifted off the bottom during
heavy seas and behaves as a soft spring making the tower more compliant.

If you look at the structural action offered by the guyed tower under the lateral loads; guyed towers
essentially restrain the surge or the sway motion, which is applied or which is caused by the action
of the wave or wind on the tower. The Spud Can which is located in the bottom of a support
connection, which is offering a position fixed connection, but rotation is said to be free. So it is
treated in analysis as pinned beam for the structural analysis purposes. The less horizontal
reaction, which is a component of the guy line, will be counteracted by this Spud Can in terms of
its resistance.
 Figure : Guyed Tower
Articulated Towers
Articulated tower platform is one of the compliant structures which is economically attractive
especially as loading and mooring terminal to deep waters. These platforms are comparatively
light compared to the conventional fixed platforms. One of the earliest compliant structures that
started in relatively shallow waters and slowly moved into deep water is the articulated tower.
Articulation is nothing but, a hinged joint which gives position restrain to the tower, but the rotation
is set free. This is similar to what kinds of arrangement being made in Spud Can foundation system
of a guyed tower. So, the articulated tower is made up of a tubular column or trussed steel lattice
work; it contains a deck, a shaft, a base and a universal joint.
Therefore, an articulated tower is an upright tower, which is hinged at its base with a cardan joint
and is free to oscillate about this joint due to the environment. The base below the universal joint
on the seabed may be a gravity base or may be piled. The tower is ballasted near the universal joint
and has a large enough buoyancy tank at the free surface to provide large restoring force (moment).
The tower extends above the free surface and accommodates a deck and a fluid swivel. In deeper
waters, it is often advantageous to introduce double articulation, the second one being at a mid-
depth.
Essentially, the tower is replaced by shaft which is divided into three components: the upper, the
lower and then the connector part of the shaft. The upper shaft and the lower shaft are separated
by means of a chamber, which we call as a buoyancy chamber, which is approximately located
about one third of the top height of the water depth, where this platform are installed. Now the
interesting component or the vital component of the platform is what we call as an articulation
joint or a universal joint or a ball joint.

Articulator tower has been seen as economically attractive structures for deeper waters. The
rotation of the tower is permissible at the base, because a joint is hinged. Therefore, the cost of this
structure becomes phenomenally reduced, because foundation system of this kind of towers
becomes highly simple. It is also understood that these kinds of towers stay or have very high
degree of stability because they arise from large buoyancy forces created from the last in the
buoyancy chambers.
Whenever there is a disturbance acted upon the tower due to lateral loads. The restoring moment
due to buoyancy force will bring back the tower to the original position. The tower will get
inclined, because of this there is a variable submergence effect happening on the large size of these
members, which alter the buoyancy and that buoyancy force will cause a restoring moment about
the bottom of the tower, which brings back the tower to the normal position. This is centrally
achieved by the dynamic change in water plane area, otherwise we address this as variable
submergence effect of the member.

Essentially, articulated tower designed for very small fields. They successfully operate in shallow
waters, which is less than 200 meters crude oil is generally moved up the tower and then transfer
to the tether tanker for processing and storage. So, ATs are never used for the continuous
production there used as either a storage tanks or used as mooring anchors. A shuttle tanker then
receives processed oil and transports to shore. Alternatively, one can use pipe line also to do.
This is the another classical figure, which anchors a drill ship or a storage vessel to that of a
mooring system, which is a single leg anchor mooring system, which is an articulated tower which
is a classical example of a marine structure.

Advantages.
They are very low cost. The large restoring moments due to high center of buoyancy, it offers a
very good resistance, risers are protected by tower. It attracts lesser forces due to compliancy the
natural period of the towers are much larger than that of the waves. Approximately, they vary from
40 seconds to 90 seconds whereas the dominant wave periods at which these structures operate
vary from 10 seconds above 15 seconds. Therefore, they result in lower dynamic amplification
factor, which is in comparison to that fixed structures are significantly lower. They are very light
in weight. Therefore, is very easy and simple to fabricate. It is very comfortable and convenient
for towing installation and as well as decommissioning this kind of towers. Most importantly, as
there are no base moments generate it due to the hinged joint the foundation design of this kind of
structures is relatively simple.

Disadvantages
These kinds of towers they can operate only at shallow waters, because they undergo greater
oscillations at greater water depth, which is not desirable as per the structural act of the platform
is concerned. These towers cannot operate in bad weather, because of the fundamental reason the
restoration time given or taken by the tower is phenomenally high to bring back to the original
position under the lateral forces. They are limited to very small fields the fatigue of universal joint
is seen as the one of the important criteria failure for this kind of towers, because these towers lead
to what we structurally understand as single point failure.
Compliant Tower
A compliant tower is similar to a traditional platform and extends from surface to the sea bottom,
and it is fairly transparent to waves. However, unlike its predecessor, a compliant tower is designed
to flex with the forces of waves, wind and current. It uses less steel than a conventional platform
for the same water depth. These are tall structures built of cylindrical steel members but slender in
shape. Pilings tie it to the sea bed but in a small footprint with a narrow base. These structures do
not have the same stability as the fixed platforms; rather they sway with the current, waves and
winds to the extent 10–15 ft off centre in extreme cases, but during normal operating conditions,
the motions are much less under environmental load. It uses less steel than a conventional jacket
platform which becomes obvious when comparison is made between the structural weights of the
world’s deepest fixed platform (Bullwinkle) and the world’s tallest compliant structure
(Petronious).
Compliant towers (Figure 3.26) are designed to have considerable ‘mass’ and ‘buoyancy’ in their
upper regions and as a result they have a sluggish response to any forces because its mass and
stiffness characteristics are tuned such that its natural period would be much greater than the period
of waves in the extreme design environment. The typical 10–15 second cycle wave passes
normally through the structural frame without any response just as water reeds behave when waves
pass through them. In fact, an early version of compliant towers was named Roseau, meaning reed
in French.

The construction of compliant towers is more or less similar to jacketed structures except that the
requirement of steel (or tonnage) is less in this case. A compliant tower structure can be divided
into four basic structural components:
• The foundation piles.
• The base section.
• The tower section(s).
Depending on the water depth and the means of transport, the tower can be made in one or more
sections.
The deck.
The base and the tower sections are lattice space structures fabricated from tubular steel members
and thus termed the jacket base and the jacket tower sections. Normally the tower section is much
larger than the base section.