Abstract
Offshore engineering is a relatively young, extremely varied and remarkably exciting field of
engineering. Oceans truly are the last frontiers remaining on earth, and it is up to the engineer to
find ways to identify, investigate and utilize ocean resources while at the same time protecting
them from the destructive effects of human activities (USNA, 2003). In its simplest form,
offshore engineering involves all technical aspects of harnessing resources from the sea. The
range of activities in this rapidly expanding field includes extraction of oil and gas from undersea
reservoirs, mining for minerals on or below the seabed, the exploitation of renewable energy
resources such as tidal or wave energy and the farming of fish and shellfish. As the societal and
technological changes are happening very rapidly and the offshore organisation are expecting to
obtain higher level of benefit from their investments, there is a need for property planning of
offshore engineering projects to ensure that the right decision will be made (Huxhold and
Levinsohn, 1995). Plato, the philosopher of Ancient Greek (427 – 347 BC) had highlighted that
“the beginning is the most important part of the work”. In other words, without the right decision
or effective planning, an offshore engineering severely decreases its chances for success.