Advances, trends, and challenges

Deepwater is poised to provide an increasing proportion of the world supply of oil and gas as inshore fields become depleted and unrest causes some onshore fields to be constrained in output. The economies associated with large fleets of similar shallow water platforms, and the simplicity of modest depth platforms that access a single large reservoir, are not likely to be realizable in deep water. In deep water, single reservoirs large enough to be economic as standalone developments are rare. Deep water oil and gas field development is typically characterized by the need to access multiple reservoirs using several drill sites and an extensive sea system. Subsea system components and materials are going through a phase of rapid development and expansion of their capabilities.