Petroleum Product Engineering - Coursework Example

According to the STEO report of 2015, the inventory for the global oil has been projected to maintain an average of 1.3 million bbl/day. This oil inventory is on top of the average increase of 0.9 million bbl/d in 2014 (IEA, 2015). Despite the overwhelming supply of oil for the global consumption, the discovery of potential oil reserves never stops. Over the decades, the oil reserves have explored the offshore oil resources, where the potentials are high. The offshore is considered as the next frontier when it comes to the global oil supply.

The field of petroleum engineering continues to find innovation that focuses on the discovery of oil reserves, processes for oil extraction and refinery, drilling mechanisms, and other related activities. Offshore drilling is one of the greatest innovations for the petroleum engineering that contributed greatly to the continuous supplication of oil in the whole world. Offshore drilling technology is the mechanical process that involves the drilling of a wellbore along the seabed. This technology is specifically carried out for exploration purposes with its wide applications for discovering oil reserves found along the seabed (Beckman, 2014).

The offshore technology in the oil industry started in the year 1950s where the first technologies include semi-submersible rigs and deepwater drillships. Throughout the years, the technologies for offshore drilling keeps on advancing, where there are various types of offshore facilities made available for application in various depths of water. Since its discovery, the offshore drilling technology consistently grows over the years. In fact, it is considered as one of the main sources for oil and petroleum for two decades and more.

In the year 2005, the top most producer of oil using offshore facilities comes from the Persian Gulf (Sandrea and Sandrea, 2007). The Persian Gulf is now considered as the world’s top oil producer where the largest oil reserve are