2.3.1 Service Bases 



The supply and support of offshore rigs and platforms is a vital 

 element in the effort to produce oil and gas in the marine environment. 

 Only a limited amount of the necessary supplies can be stockpiled 

 alongside the rig or platform during all phases of operation. It is 

 essential that the supply line from shore to the offshore drilling area 

 be maintained in an orderly and timely manner; an ineffective supply 

 system can be very costly as any downtime due to lack of supplies and 

 equipment add unnecessarily to the overall drilling costs. 



Service bases (or staging areas) are the logistical links between 

 offshore and onshore activities. The main activity of a service base is 

 the transfer of materials and crew members required to operate rigs and 

 platforms between land and offshore operations. Service bases contain 

 berths for supply boats and crew boats, dock space for loading and 

 unloading, warehouses, open storage areas, office space, trucking and 

 freighting facilities, and a machine shop. Optional facilities may 

 include a mineral-processing area (for drilling-mud preparation), an 

 offshore workover area (for reworking of producing wells), and possibly 

 a helicopter landing area for personnel transport. Numerous additional 

 facilities are required to support the central staging area as an effective 

 and efficient base of operations. These operations include food/catering 

 establishments, marine equipment distributions, and repair shops. 



Service bases are sometimes set up by the oil companies for their 

 own use, or they may be built and operated by companies which specialize 

 in serving offshore operations and under contract to the oil companies 

 (Figure 27). Support bases have traditionally been established by 

 drilling-mud supply companies (known as "mud companies"). More recently, 

 specialized companies have evolved whose main function is the establish- 

 ment of service bases, such as the Aberdeen Service Company Ltd., in 

 Scotland. Some major oil companies, since they either own or have rigs 

 on extended contract, prefer to carry out their own operations onshore. 

 Other oil companies find that a base run on a large scale by another 

 company provides an attractive alternative due to the flexibility it 

 allows. 



Description 



Service-base components will vary depending on the size and rate of 



production of offshore resources. Requirements are also a function of 



available community and industrial infrastructures. In frontier areas, 

 service bases may be largely self-contained in rural environments such 



as Alaska; or may be a new component to a developed waterfront port in 

 east coast locations. 



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