Offshore vessels are industrial vessels primarily utilized in the offshore petroleum industry for exploration or exploitation of subsea resources. The most common types of offshore vessels in use today are the column-stabilized semisubmersible unit, the self-elevating or jack-up unit, and surface-type units such as the drillship and barge. In the truest sense, whether they are operational afloat, as are the semisubmersible, drillship and barge, or operational while bottom supported, as is the jack-up, due to their mobility they are marine vessels with systems nominally the same as conventional ships. Due to their mission requirements, however, their systems have features that are unique when analyzed by the traditional marine engineer, and although these vessels contain mechanical and electrical components similar to those used in conventional ships, they serve different systems and have unique applications. This paper discusses the major marine engineering aspects of mobile offshore vessels that are unique and which have made them a distinct category of marine vessel.
Proximate underwater soundscape of a North Sea offshore petroleum exploration jack-up drilling rig in the Dogger Bank