Innovative Offshore Engineering In The Arctic

Petroleum exploration in the past few years has been carried out in increasingly hostile environments; in the frigid northern tundra; in deep offshore waters and now in the ice infested seas in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas. In order to explore for oil in these hostile areas, in a cost effective manner, innovative solutions have been sought and implemented, such as semi-submersible drilling vessels for rough deep waters. For the past decade offshore drilling has taken place in the Arctic using a variety of methods including man-made islands, floating ice platforms, ice strengthened drill ships, and bottom founded drilling caissons. This paper describes these innovative systems and some of the specialized equipment used to support offshore exploration in the North American Arctic.