Offshore Pipelines in European Maritime Areas – The Years Ahead

ABSTRACT Oil and gas development within the European area has already moved into deep water with the Montanazo wellhead in 760 metres. Deep water activities will be common by the end of the century. Offshore exploration and production techniques have been developed for water depths in excess of 300 metres. For effective pipelaying in these depths, where diver assistance is difficult, totally integrated installation systems will be required. The paper discusses such systems and defines the deep water capabilities required for the system elements. In conclusion it is argued that no system element can operate independently without a design interface within the total deep water pipeline installation system.