The term subsea is frequently used in connection with oceanography, marine or ocean engineering, ocean exploration, remotely operated vehicle (ROVs) autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), submarine communications or power cables, seafloor mineral mining, oil and gas, and offshore wind power.
Subsea oil field developments are usually split into Shallow water and Deepwater categories to distinguish between the different facilities and approaches that are needed.
The well had a land-type Christmas tree that required diver intervention for installation, maintenance, and flow line connections.
Subsea technology in offshore oil and gas production is a highly specialized field of application with particular demands on engineering and simulation.
This is because of the high costs and time involved in changing a pre-existing system due to the specialized vessels with advanced onboard equipment.
The oil industry has therefore adopted modern data technology as a tool for virtual testing of deepwater systems that enables detection of costly faults at an early phase of the project.
Recent technological advancements have given rise to the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to collect mineral samples from prospective mine sites.
Nautilus Minerals Inc. had begun to establish a new industry by commercially exploring and, in the future, planned to extract copper, gold, silver and zinc in its Solwara 1 Project.
The project was establishing its operations 1 mile (1.6 km) beneath the ocean surface in the Bismarck Sea near Papua New Guinea.
Examples of such government agencies are the Minerals Management Service (MMS, US), Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD, Norway), and Health & Safety Executive (HSE, UK).