LOG904-116 Offshore Upstream Logistics (Autumn 2025)

The seminar gives an outline of the offshore developments on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) such as offshore wind energy production, offshore oil and gas production, and carbon storage offshore. The course introduces the main technologies used for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Offshore Wind (OW) energy and offshore Oil and Gas (O&G) production, the main stages and phases of offshore development projects including offshore decarbonization projects, the current and the planned activities on the NCS.

The value chains for CCS from supply chain and logistics perspective, and the upstream logistics for offshore wind and offshore oil and gas production will be studied, focusing on logistics infrastructure, logistics activities, logistics resources, and logistics operations management, illustrated on the examples of offshore development projects and the examples from offshore operating companies.

The course will concentrate on logistics challenges and logistics costs during installation and maintenance of offshore wind farms, during supply of material and personnel to offshore oil and gas installations, during design of the offshore emergency response systems, and during development of infrastructure for transporting captured CO2 from its sources to offshore storage sites.

Upstream offshore logistics decision problems on strategical, tactical and operational levels, and logistics management models and software for development of logistics infrastructure, and for logistics resources and logistics operations planning will be studied.

Knowledge

After completing the course, the students will understand the role of CCS in decarbonization strategies of the companies, measurements of CCS efficiency, incentives and obstacles. Students will acquire knowledge of the main carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS) technologies, including supply chain stages of CO2 capture, transportation and storage. Students will get familiarized with the main supply chain configuration types and current research focus, including techno-economical assessment for technology choice and optimization methods for network design.

After completing the course, the students will know about historical development and trends in offshore wind production, current advantages and disadvantages, offshore wind farm examples, offshore wind turbines components, logistical challenges when designing, scheduling installation and performing maintenance of offshore wind farms, as well as logistical resources used. The students will have knowledge of typical planning problems arising during offshore wind farm design including site selection, wind turbine location, and cabling layout. The students will know about logistics resource planning and process scheduling during offshore wind farm installation phase, and logistics planning problems for offshore wind farm operations and maintenance required on strategical and tactical levels.

After completing the course, the students will also know about historical development of offshore oil and gas logistics infrastructure on the NCS, upstream part of offshore oil and gas supply chain, and offshore upstream logistics activities. The students will have knowledge of typical logistics planning problems in offshore oil and gas supply chain such as cargo and personnel transportation planning from supply bases to offshore installations by vessels and helicopters, planning of emergency response system and rescue resources positioning, on the examples of offshore operating energy companies and their planning procedures and decision support tools.

Skills

After completing the course, the students will be able to

• discuss and compare various CCUS technologies and value chains from the perspective of an emitter, i.e. single chain, and infrastructure designer, i.e. network perspective
• identify a methodology for SCM and logistics decision making in CCUS context
• define the phases of offshore wind projects, the offshore wind farms logistical infrastructure and resources, the types of logistics activities and operations
• identify different planning level problems in offshore wind farm logistics
• describe logistics challenges in wind farm siting, wind turbine location, cabling layout, installation scheduling planning, fleet planning for wind farm maintenance, scheduling of maintenance tasks for offshore wind farms and routing and scheduling of maintenance fleet
• describe the parts of the offshore upstream oil and gas supply chain, the supply chain logistical infrastructure and resources, the types of offshore upstream logistics activities
• identify the types of supply vessel planning, helicopter personnel transportation planning and emergency response system planning problems on strategical, tactical and operational levels
• derive logistics challenges in supply vessel planning and helicopter personnel transportation planning to offshore oil and gas installations on different levels, discuss planning practices and tools

General competences

After completing the course, the students will be able to

• understand the main principles and challenges related to CCS technology application in singe supply chains and large-scale logistics networks
• identify and discuss CCS upstream logistics problems at strategic, tactical and operational levels
• understand current and future advantages and disadvantages of offshore energy production
• explain upstream logistics activities in offshore wind energy and offshore oil and gas production
• identify types of planning problems arising in upstream offshore energy logistics networks on different levels in research and work contexts

Form of assessment: Home exam

Proportion: 100 %

Duration: 2 days (from Thursday to Friday 23:59)

Grouping: 3-4 students in group

Grading scale: Letter (A - F)

Support material: Lecture materials, published research works, web-pages of companies and organizations