Offshore construction involves building structures at sea, usually for oil, gas, or electricity production and transmission. It provides benefits like boosted efficiency from stronger winds and currents offshore, and new high-paying job opportunities. However, it also faces challenges like complex building processes in an offshore environment and potential environmental impacts on marine life. Effective communication and environmental planning are needed to maximize offshore construction's benefits while mitigating risks.

1. Offshore Construction:
The Main Benefits and
Struggles
Prepared By: Amrullah Abdulrahimzai
(amrullahsadat20@gmail.com )
Student of ME CTM Chandigarh University

2. Offshore Construction is the installation of structures and facilities in a
marine environment, usually for the production and transmission of electricity, oil, gas and other
resources. It is also called maritime engineering. Construction and pre-commissioning is typically
performed as much as possible onshore.
Construction is a continuously evolving field. Offshore construction is a representative example
of that. The ability of the industry to expand its activities in the marine environment played a
significant role in its financial growth. It goes without saying that offshore construction unlocked
a comp lately new field with great opportunities and challenges. Of course, offshore construction
doesn’t have only strong advantages. There are certain disadvantages or difficulties that come with
it, too.
We will try to shed some light on the positive and negative aspects of offshore construction. First,
though, it is more than necessary to describe what this term actually stands for.
What Offshore Construction Is
Offshore construction covers a wide spectrum of facilities built away from the shore. Thanks
to these structures, the production of valuable resources such as oil, electricity and gas is possible.
The transmission or transportation of these resources onshore is part of the whole process, as well.
The form of an offshore structure varies depending on the resources that is designed to produce
and transmit. For instance, wind farms have a totally different shape and way of function than oil
platforms. In that sense, they have different benefits and points of concern.
As far as the building procedure of the platforms is concerned, the most common practice is the
manufacturing of the whole structure onshore. This solution simplifies the construction
process and facilitates the people working on the project due to the easier transportation of both
the materials and the equipment. However, there also are cases where the construction process
takes place in the open sea. Special vessels that allow the completion of the project are used in
such occasions.
Types of Offshore Structures

3. Different kinds of offshore facilities cover different needs. Some of the main types of offshore
structures could be summed up to the following:
Oil and Gas Platforms
Oil and gas platforms probably are the most common offshore structures. There are two types of
platforms. The floating facilities that float close to the surface and the fixed structures which are
extending to the bottom of the ocean. The floating structures are more recent than the fixed
facilities. Both types of oil platforms have special corrosion protection.
Wind Farms
The wind farms have a tremendous contribution to the production of electric power. The
installation of wind turbines in the sea is preferred due to the increased efficiency in terms of
energy production in comparison to onshore wind turbines. The stronger winds over the sea help
a lot in the production of higher amounts of electric energy.
Subsea Pipelines
The submarine pipelines are part of geotechnical engineering. Their main scope of work is the
transportation of oil and gas. There are many different parameters that have to be taken into
account when subsea pipelines are installed, as they have to harmoniously fit their surroundings.

4. Offshore Construction: The Main
Benefits
Offshore construction has a critical contribution to our industry. Below you can find some of the
most crucial benefits that may come with it:
Boosted Efficiency
The case of the wind farms is a very indicative example in this case. The stronger winds over the
sea are helping toward the production of higher amounts of electricity compared to onshore
facilities. Another good example would be the cutback of the transmission pipeline for gas. This
can have a very positive impact on transportation costs. It’s evident then that offshore construction
can have some multi-sided benefits in the construction process.
Job Openings
Offshore construction is a special and challenging field. It requires a certain amount of special
skills and expertise. That being said, offshore construction is creating new opportunities for the
job market. What is more, the majority of these jobs are well-paid and of high prestige due to the
difficulties and challenges that an offshore construction worker has to face.

5. Location
Sometimes your customers might simply be too far from you. Depending on the geographical
position of your offshore structures, you may have a strong card up your sleeve. Thanks to offshore
construction, you have the option to install the platform closer to your client’s area of interest. In
that manner, you can save a great amount of financial and energy resources in equipment and
material transportation.
Equipment Cooling
The fact that the used equipment is installed at sea provides a great advantage when we are
focusing on the cooling process. The easy and quick access to seawater facilitates the cooling of
the equipment and optimizes the function of the platform/wind farm in general.
Impact on the Environment
The absence of an onshore working site can be an environmentally friendly choice in many cases.
If done right, offshore construction can contribute to the minimization of the human interference
on the ecosystem. On the other hand, we can’t reach to any safe conclusions before we analyze in
depth the effect of offshore structures on the marine ecosystem.
The Main Struggles

6. By now, it’s clear that offshore construction is a greatly beneficial field of activity within our
industry. Nevertheless, there still are some critical points of concern that cannot be ignored. After
a quick search, we have listed the main pains that offshore construction has to deal with below:
Building Process
Putting together a complex building structure onshore is one thing. But having to transfer or create
the same structure offshore is another. Today’s cutting edge technology has played a substantial
role in simplifying this process but the challenges are still there. The weather phenomena and the
creation of solid structures that could endure the difficulties posed by the sea environment are only
some of those pains.
Losing Control
When you are supervising an offshore construction project from a distance, it can be really tough
to retain control over it. You have to establish strong communication channels with the
contractor(s) who work on the platform. Making sure that every step is followed according to the
plan is fundamental.
Environmental Disruption
We mentioned earlier that offshore construction can be beneficial for the onshore environment.
On the other side, there still are strong concerns regarding its impact on the marine life. More
specifically, it is not yet totally apparent the extent to which offshore platforms can affect and put
in danger the presence of sea animals. For that reason, a detailed environmental study should
always be conducted prior the beginning of an offshore project.
Conclusion
Offshore construction is a huge step forward for the industry. It unlocks new opportunities and
resources for the whole planet. Nonetheless, it has to be done right. Carefully elaborated plans
have to be followed in order to make sure that we are taking the most out of the offshore structures
while minimizing risk.