Development and production operations in the Arctic offshore as a result of exploration have been limited, with the exception of the Barents and Norwegian seas. In Alaska, exploration subsequent to the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay oilfield has focussed on the onshore and shallow coastal waters.SummaryExploration for petroleum in the Arctic is expensive and challenging both technically and logistically. In the. .
There are 19 geological making up the region. Some of these basins have experienced and , most notably the where oil was first produced in 1968 from .. .
Drilling in the peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, led by such companies as in the Sverdrup Basin of the Arctic Islands, and by and in the Beaufort S. .
In June 2007, a group of returned from a six-week voyage on a , the expedition called . They had travelled to the , an underwate. .
In the years post 2000, sedimentary basins offshore were believed by some geologists to have high potential for large oil discoveries. In a comprehensive study of the potential of Arctic basins published in 2008, the.
[pdf] 
As of June 2010, there were over 620 mobile offshore drilling rigs (jackups, semisubs, drillships, barges, etc.) available for service in the worldwide offshore rig fleet. .
Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract that lies in rock formations beneath the. .
Offshore drilling is usually done from platforms generically known as mobile offshore drilling units (MODU), which can be of one of several. .
Offshore oil and gas production is more challenging than land-based installations due to the remote and harsher environment. Much of the innovation in the offshore petroleum. .
Offshore oil production involves environmental risks, most notably from oil tankers or pipelines transporting oil from the platform to onshore facilities, and from leaks and accidents on the platform (e.g. and .
Around 1891, the first submerged oil wells were drilled from platforms built on piles in the fresh waters of the in . The wells were developed by small local. .
Notable offshore fields include:• the • the (offshore , , , and )• (in the and , part of the Ventura Basin) .
• • • • • •
[pdf] A drilling riser is a conduit that provides a temporary extension of a to a surface drilling facility. Drilling risers are categorised into two types: marine drilling risers used with subsea (BOP) and generally used by floating drilling vessels; and tie-back drilling risers used with a surface BOP and generally deployed from or very stable floating platfor.
[pdf] 