e had discussed that Marine Electronics Engineering and Offshore Engineering form an integral part of Ocean Engineering. Now lets see in depth what is Offshore Oil & Gas Engineering.
Offshore Engineering, being a part of Ocean engineering, deals exclusively with the engineering of devices & equipments such as marine foundations for bridges above rivers, mooring systems, deep ocean mining, offshore pipelines, offshore cables , oil rigs structures, submersible vehicles, submarine habitats and salvage operations.
Offshore engineering has all forms of work whatever involved on land, with added difficulty of being located in an isolated environment, having its own energy, water, food supplies, materials, equipment, labour & technical expertise making it to be a mini-city. Further these isolated structures are located far away from the land with no ease of access. These structures are being constructed for the availability of particular resource like oil from ocean beds etc. Also these structures encounter very harsh environment such as bad weather, heavy seas, marine saline environment etc. The access to shore sometimes is not easy, which is very dangerous to run for safe place when situation arises.
Offshore Engineers, live and work in these environments, which involves very high risk and no margin allowed for even small errors. They work and operate with highest level of standards with very high efficiency. Even a small error could cause a million dollar loss for the company and more than that causes significant pollution or damage to the environment, or may lead to severe injuries or even death.
Jobs Of An Offshore Engineer
A typical Offshore Engineer has to perform various tasks on wide variety of departments. They involve identification and extraction of oil and gas from the reservoirs beneath the sea beds. They get involved in the design of sub-sea transportation equipments. They are responsible for the design, construction and testing of such sub-sea vessels and their efficient operation.
While doing these activities, they have to keep in check about the pollution or damage they are causing to the environment. There are totally responsible for maximum efficiency of the production and cost reduction.
They also act as safety engineers, ensuring all jobs performed in a safe and efficient manner. Continuous research and development is reqired for drilling,extraction, and transportation techniques in a safe and cost efficient manner.
Real World Challenges
Hope everybody are aware of the “Palm Beaches” project heading towards its completion phase, in Dubai. This was a great challenge for the marine, ocean & offshore engineers. Here are some pictures of the palm beaches. For this artificial Island, on the coast of Dubai, it required the combined skill of the marine, offshore and ocean engineers to complete this marvel. This is man-made Island, which is almost a floating city(not a ship). These Island incorporate theaters, pubs, shopping malls, restaurants and even hotels. So this is being developed as a big tourist spot in the world.
The construction of bridges across rivers and seas to connect two important places involves erecting pillars in the seas. This is not an easy task as it is going to withstand tons of weight for the entire life of planet earth.Some of the pictures are enclosed here.
Intitutions Offering Offshore Engineering
These are some of the top Institutes in U.K offering Offshore engineering.
1. University of Aberdeen
2. Cranfield University
3. Cardiff University
4. Heriot-Watt University
5. The University of Liverpool
6. National University Of Singapore. etc.
