RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT
The shift of human activities towards the sea, both in civil / residential and industrial sectors requires new solutions that are able to satisfy the new needs by respecting the principles of economic and environmental sustainability.
The growing need for space in the most populous coastal areas requires the development of the waterfront for civil and residential use (e.g. parking areas for residential centers, multipurpose halls, housing and shopping centers, logistics platforms, nearshore hub of goods or passengers, floating energy plants), particularly in large urban centers. In the other direction, the development of industrial activities in increasing distance from the coast or in remote areas requires floating offshore solutions to provide logistical support to fisheries, aquaculture, marine renewable energy, mining, or to more conventional activities related to the Oil & Gas industry.
Starting from a generic overview, these needs are evaluated with respect to the possible directions of their development so as to identify the specific features for different applications. This paper presents a new concept of a modular floating platform and includes also some possible applications for the offshore O&G industry.
The modular concept is an interesting solution for the O&G industry, which is looking for a new approach to the business that is oriented towards sustainable development: it is not only a matter of environmental sustainability, but also of the economic and financial aspects of the feasibility of a project.
Beginning with an introduction of some concepts developed for civil applications, examples of possible use in the oil and gas industry are presented. This is followed by a discussion about the development needs of offshore oil fields, which require solutions that ensure maximum flexibility in the development and reduce the time to first oil production by using modular platform technologies. The latter offer flexibility in the configuration of the production facility, its expandability or reconfiguration as a function also of its evolution over the lifetime of the field.
Finally, the paper analyzes the expected benefits derived from the development of these technologies and the current challenges that designers will have to resolve to make them applicable to different uses. Presented are also some of the concepts developed for various purposes (e.g. Floating Power Platform for areas lacking of land infrastructure).