Engineering
In addition to specific offshore and maritime
engineering activities (see relevant web pages), the offshore engineer
utilises traditional engineering skills and training. In this he or she is no
different from any other engineer, whose skills are needed in relation
to virtually every aspect of our daily lives. We drive to work on roads
and over bridges designed by civil engineers, in vehicles designed by
mechanical engineers. We go on holiday in aeroplanes designed by
aeronautical engineers. We watch television and use home computers, both
designed by electronic engineers, and so on. This is no less true for
the marine environment, where engineers are needed from a variety of
disciplines to design and supervise the construction of ships, to design
and install offshore oil and gas platforms, to engineer equipment that
is needed for seabed mining, to introduce novel technology for the
exploitation of energy from the waves, and so on. The growth of the
North Sea oil and gas industry over the past thirty years has meant that
many engineers have been required by oil companies, offshore supply
industries and consultant engineering firms in the design, construction
and installation of all the structures, rigs and equipment that are
needed in the exploitation of oil and gas reserves, as well as the
specialist engineers that are required in the discovery of these
reserves and in tapping these reserves.
Engineers working alongside scientists devising new
instrumentation and techniques for researching the marine environment
need not only all of the traditional engineering skills, but also an
awareness of the problems of scientific investigation. For many, this
makes a particularly rewarding combination of interests.
Engineers working in the marine and offshore
environment, although invariably having particular discipline skills,
will also have to work alongside engineers with variety of backgrounds,
since offshore technology by its nature is intrinsically
multi-disciplinary. Further information can be found in the fact sheets
on marine engineering, offshore engineer and naval architecture in this
section of the website.
WILL I MAKE A GOOD ENGINEER?
You will need to be interested in applying science and mathematics in
the development of technology for the well-being of society. Energy, for
example, is a basic worldwide daily need, and consequently we need
engineers to provide the solution to exploit energy resources located in
or under the oceans (such as in wave energy and in tapping hydrocarbon
resources). Although there are many pathways to becoming an engineer in
a variety of discipline areas, an interest and ability in mathematics,
physics and/or engineering science at school will be important in
relation to the formal period of engineering training that is required,
whether this be at university, polytechnic or any other college of
further education. As engineers always have to keep a constant eye on
costs, another important factor will be a general interest in economics
and management. You must also be capable of working in a team.
WHAT MIGHT I BE DOING?
Engineers from virtually every discipline will be needed for
technological developments in the offshore and ocean environment.
A few of these disciplines are briefly described below.
Civil
Engineer
Civil engineering plays a major part in marine environment engineering.
Structures are always required, especially offshore where the
wind/wave/current forces call for challenging designs. The civil
engineer will be expected not only to design the structure, but also to be
an expert in the seabed soils and fluid loading
(hydrostatics/hydrodynamics). Ultimately, many will be involved as
managers in designing and constructing offshore systems. Areas of work
vary, and with the need for innovative design we find new structural
concepts are required. The civil engineer's job does not end with the
design of the structure. The engineer could very well be responsible for
the load out procedure, where large dry docks have to be constructed and
coastal engineering comes into play. In all major one-off structures
(every structure offshore is different depending on usage, water depth
and environment) it is necessary to construct models for testing in
order to evaluate the design; again, the civil engineer will be the
person most likely to be involved. These models will be mathematically
similar and will be tested in highly sophisticated facilities capable of
simulating the particular environmental loadings expected at the site at
which the structure is to be placed.
Mechanical Engineer
In all offshore systems, the mechanical engineer plays an essential
role. Take, for example, an offshore platform – essentially a village
supported above the sea. The power for the platform is generated on
site and, incidentally, is sufficient to supply a fairly large town!
There has to be processing equipment, drilling equipment, hotel
accommodation, communication systems, cranes for loading and unloading
supplies and a helicopter pad for the transfer of personnel. In short,
the platform is a self-sufficient factory/hotel/airport on legs, in one
of the most inhospitable locations on earth. For a lot of operations
high pressure design is fundamental, and this – in association with the
transfer of high temperature – highly corrosive, flammable fluids,
requires an extremely competent level of mechanical engineering. There
are many other areas which require mechanical engineers trained to cope
with the marine environment. These include ship design, hydrodynamics,
wave energy systems, submarines and innovative ideas such as ocean
thermal energy conversion. The mechanical engineer therefore deals with
the mechanics of systems and can be involved from the initial design
stage through to the assessment of the failure of a particular piece of
equipment, be it through mishandling, fatigue or corrosion. In today's
engineering, where new materials/steel alloys can be tailored to a
particular operating environment, the mechanical engineer is required to
be versatile, innovative and, above all, knowledgeable about materials,
design and the environment.
Electrical Engineer
The electrical engineer may be involved in areas of work such as
remotely operated vehicles (ROV), control systems, downhole monitoring,
underwater acoustics and navigation, directional drilling,
communications, data processing and heavy electrical plant. In many
cases the electrical engineer's main involvement is within the areas of
communications and control of data processing. With the advent of new
technologies, especially in electronics, the engineer is able to
control/inspect/drill deeper and with higher precision than was
previously possible. If we consider the important area of work of
inspection, repair and maintenance, we find that over the years ROVs have progressed from relatively basic
camera-thruster (flying eyeball) vehicles to complex pieces of
equipment, capable of functioning in many ways as well as a human. This
is essential when we consider the depths to which current drilling rigs
can operate. Data transfer using innovative electronics has made it
possible to communicate with these ROVs through fibre optics or acoustic
links. In many other areas of ocean engineering, from satellite
communication to low cost data buoy design and development, the
electronic engineer is the key expert.
Instrument
Technologist (Engineer)
Spanning the full range of engineering
disciplines, this field highlights skills in electronic design,
computation, control and data handling, appreciation of the properties
of sensor and transducer systems and knowledge of their interaction with
the marine environment. The field is intimately tied to an understanding
of the basic scientific aims and the role of the chosen technique in the
wider context of industrial and commercial instrumentation. Implantation
of designs requires an understanding of the mechanical design problems
on packaging, hydrodynamic problems in streaming the apparatus behind
towing vehicles and the computational needs of later data analysis. This
type of specialisation touches on all the other areas of marine
engineering and marine science.
Chemical Engineer
The chemical engineer is perhaps the easiest
to identify in the offshore oil industry. Onshore refineries are
essential for the processing of crude, but equally important are the
processing units offshore. The are particular difficulties in marginal
fields where compliant structures (structures which are designed to
comply with the resultant environmental loadings) are used. Processing
equipment designed for 'terra firma' situations has to be redesigned to
operate under this new environment. The chemical engineer assesses the
required processing at site and the additives necessary to aid both the
extraction and transfer of the crude oil. The chemical engineer is also
responsible for drilling fluids (mud), chemical inhibitors, sea water
processing, fluid injection and many other areas where expertise in such
disciplines as the control of chemical reactions, heat and mass transfer
and fluid flow are normally involved. The winning of metal-bearing ores
and even gravel from the seabed normally involves the transfer of a
slurry or some other liquid/solid mixture to the surface with perhaps
some processing on the collection vessel. It is expected that problems
such as these will continue to occupy chemical engineers well into the
future.
Petroleum Engineer
Petroleum engineers are needed at every stage in an offshore oil and gas
development. At the outset they work alongside marine geologists and
geophysicists to locate oil and gas reservoirs that are trapped more
than a kilometre beneath the seabed. Complex seismic techniques and 3-D
computer imaging are used by petroleum engineers in this important task.
Petroleum engineers then have to calculate how much oil and/or gas is in
place, so that they can recommend to oil company executives if spending the vast amounts of money needed in the development of a field
would indeed be an economically attractive investment of resources.
Petroleum engineers are then needed in deciding how best to exploit the
field by selecting the locations where oils wells would be drilled, and
also in taking samples of oil reservoir rock in order to provide data
for their oil reservoir computer programs. These programs are
subsequently used to provide information to optimise the recovery of
hydrocarbon reserves throughout the life of the field.
WHICH COURSE SHOULD I CHOOSE?
Once you have identified one or two particular branches of engineering
which sound especially interesting, you will need to find out
more about the courses on offer. 'Which course should I choose?'
is a difficult question requiring careful consideration.
Choices
include the following:
-
a traditional engineering course, e.g. BSc
Civil Engineering, which offers options in offshore/marine/petroleum
related subjects. There is a wide variety of final year options
which may cover pipeline engineering, design of offshore structures
and even diving -
BEng degree course combining a range of offshore
engineering subjects with a parent engineering discipline -
Marine Technology/Marine Engineering/Naval
Architecture courses which may lead to hitherto unmentioned careers
such as shipbroking, or work in government departments concerned
with the safety of ships and offshore structures -
Petroleum Engineering courses
It is also possible to enter an engineering
career with a physics degree. Many physicists are employed by
the offshore oil and gas industry.
More than thirty higher education institutions
in the UK are involved in offering relevant courses at undergraduate
level. It is important to consult individual prospectuses. See the
General
Information on Courses section of the website for a list of
courses.
CAREER PROSPECTS
There is a wide variety of opportunities. Since the development
of the North Sea in the early 1960s, there have been excellent
job opportunities in relation to oil and gas developments. Jobs
exist within oil companies, offshore suppliers, consulting engineers,
research institutions and government departments.
March 2002
For more information on typical companies, see our
current list of
corporate members and please use the search engine provided for
areas of interest.
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