Publisher's Synopsis
The North Sea oil industry is moving to deeper water and smaller fields to find oil. For economic reasons the most efficient way to do this is to use a vessel which is tethered to a riser from the sea bed. These vessels carry out simple processing of the crude oil and store it prior to off-loading to another vessel for shipment to the shore. These vessels are commonly referred to as FPSO's floating storage production and off loading vessels. They tend to be conversions from existing tankers, survey vessels or special new builds. Unlike normal vessels they have to remain on station in poor weather and pivot about the riser to face into the wind. There is every indication that motions are more unpleasant than a free moving vessel which can make headway to increase stability.
