Offshore Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components & Set-Up
• Playing the Game
• A) Buy a Technology Tile
• B) Open an Oil Field
  • Opening an Oil Field with Another Player
  • Ending the Drilling Phase
• C) Export Oil
• Game End
• Alternative Versions (Advanced & 2-Player Rules)
• Technologies
• Background & History
  • The Oil Fields
  • Technologies

Components & Set-Up

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table.
2. Shuffle the 14 requirement tiles and place one tile face down on each oil field on the game board, matching the roman numerals (I, II and III). Then flip the 4 starting tiles marked 'I' face up.
3. Sort the 30 export markers by their backsides (light and dark). Randomly place one marker face-up on each matching export space on the game board.
4. Put the 16 drilling tiles in the cloth bag.
5. Place the coins, point markers and oil barrels next to the game board.
6. Each player takes:
   • 7 oil platforms in their player color: Place one platform on Ekofisk, and keep the remaining platforms in front of you.
   • 1 oil barrel
   • 7 coins
7. The starting player is the last who filled diesel or gasoline. The starting player takes the active player marker, and gives one coin to the player sitting to their right.
8. Sort the technology tiles by the border on their back sides (light and dark border). Shuffle the dark tiles and place them in a face down stack on the designated space on the game board. Shuffle the light tiles and place them on top of the dark tiles.

Each player draws a light-bordered tile from the stack and places it face up in front of themselves.

Then, fill the technology display on the game board, by drawing tiles from the stack and placing them face up on the four spaces in the display, starting with the bottom space.

The special active player marker is only used in games with only 2 players (see end of rules). The 9 secret objective tiles are only used with the advanced variant (see end of rules). Put these back in the box.

Playing the Game

The starting player takes the first turn. Players then keep taking turns in a clockwise order around the table until the end of the game is triggered (see Game End).

ON YOUR TURN:

On your turn, carry out one of the following actions:

• A) Buy a technology tile
• B) Open an oil field
• C) Export oil

After your turn, pass the active player marker to the player to your left. The three actions are described in detail below.

A) Buy a Technology Tile

Take one of the technology tiles from the display and pay its cost to the supply, or pay 6 coins to take the top facedown tile from the stack. If you cannot pay the tile's cost, you must choose another action.

Put the tile face up in front of you.

Also, take the bonus shown next to the tile you took:

• one or two oil barrels: Take one or two oil barrels from the supply
• one or two technology tiles flipping: Flip one or two of your used (facedown) technology tiles back face up
• all technology tiles flipping: Flip all your technology tiles face up

When you buy a tile with a gas plant, immediately place one of your platforms on the indicated gas plant field and then return the technology tile to the game box.

At the end of your turn, if you bought any of the face-up tiles, refill the display: First, slide the remaining tiles down to fill any gaps in the display. Then, flip over the top tile in the stack and place it on the vacant top space.

Andrea buys a technology tile for 5 coins and takes 2 oil barrels as a bonus.

Emmanuel buys a gas plant for 2 coins. He flips back one of his technology tiles and places a platform on the indicated gas field.

B) Open an Oil Field

Choose an oil field to open. The field needs to have a face-up requirement tile. You may open the oil field alone, or with help from one other player. Then, go through these two phases:

Phase 1: Fulfill Requirements

1. Technology requirements: The requirement tile shows the technologies you need to have face up in front of you. If you do, slide these tiles forward to indicate that they are being used. These technology tiles may give you various advantages (see Technologies). You may not use more technology tiles than those shown on the requirement tile.

2. Pay: Pay the coins shown on the requirement tile to the supply.

3. Build: Take the requirement tile and place it in front of you (it will be worth points at the end of the game) and place one of your oil platforms on the oil field. If you do not have any more platforms in front of you, you must take one of your platforms from any other field and place it on the new oil field.

4. Reveal new requirement tiles: On each oil field that is connected by pipeline to the current oil field: flip the requirement tile face up.

Opening this field requires two red and one yellow technology, and costs 5 coins.

After you have placed a platform, reveal requirement tiles in all neighboring oil fields.

Opening an Oil Field with Another Player

When opening an oil field, you may get help from one other player (tip: this is usually better than opening the field alone). The other player may assist with their own technologies and coins to help you fulfill the requirements. You must agree on who will use which technologies and how to split the required cost. All technologies used will benefit both of you - no matter who owns the technology (see Technologies). When the requirements are met, the assisting player must also place one of their platforms on the oil field.

You may negotiate freely about which technologies to use and how to split the costs, but you may never give each other coins, tiles or points. If you cannot come to an agreement, you must either attempt to open another oil field, initiate negotiations with another player, or choose another action.

Andrea has asked Emmanuel to help her open an oil field, and they agree that Andrea will use her red technology, while Emmanuel uses his red and yellow technologies.

They also agree that Andrea should pay 4 coins, while Emmanuel pays 1.

Since all requirements are met, Andrea takes the requirement tile, and they both place a platform on the oil field.

PHASE 2: DRILLING

After you have fulfilled the requirements, you start drilling:

• Draw drilling tiles from the cloth bag - one by one - and place them on the vacant drilling spaces from top to bottom. You may stop drawing tiles at any time and decide to end the drilling. If another player is helping you open the field, they may advice you when to stop drawing tiles, but you have the final say.

• Each time before you draw a new drilling tile, you may choose to pay 2 coins to the supply to draw 2 tiles instead of 1. Choose one of the two tiles to place on the next drilling space, and return the other tile to the bag. If another player is helping you open the field, you may split this cost in any way you agree.

• Blowout: If, at any time, 4 or more pressure symbols are shown on the placed drilling tiles, a blowout happens: You must discard the last drawn 3 tiles (including the tile that triggered the blowout) and the drilling phase ends. If less than 3 tiles have been drawn, simply discard all drawn tiles.

Your technologies in use may affect the rules of the drilling phase (see Technologies).

Since the fourth tile drawn shows two pressure symbols, a blowout happens, ending the drilling phase. The last three drawn tiles must be discarded, leaving only one tile.

Ending the Drilling Phase

The drilling phase ends when you choose to stop or when a blowout happens. Carry out the following:

• Rewards from the placed drilling tiles:
  • coins: Gain all coins shown on the drilling tiles.
  • technology flip: At the end of this drilling phase, you may flip one of your facedown technology tiles face up (this may even be a technology that was just used).
  • oil barrel: Take the number of barrels shown to the left of the bottommost oil reservoir.
  • fame points: Take the number of fame points shown to the right of the bottommost gas reservoir.

Note: Even if you discover more reservoirs of the same type, you only gain rewards from the bottommost oil reservoir and from the bottommost gas reservoir.

If another player helped you open the field, they gain the same rewards as you! Important: you do not need to split the rewards between you – both collect the full rewards.

• Important: All used technology tiles (regardless of whether you benefited from them or not) must be flipped face down.
• Return all drilling tiles to the bag.

Andrea and Emmanuel both collect 2 coins, 2 oil barrels and 3 fame points (only the bottommost oil and gas reservoirs count).

Then, they both flip their used technology tiles face down.

C) Export Oil

When you export oil, you may either take 2 coins from the supply and flip one of your technology tiles face up, or you may sell oil barrels:

When selling oil barrels, you may place barrels on oil fields where you have a platform (including Ekofisk and gas plants). You may place a maximum of one barrel on each oil field. From each field where you place a barrel, you must either take one export marker, or take the reward shown inside a red export space.

You may not place more than one barrel in each oil field with a single export action. You need not place oil barrels on all your oil fields.

When you take an export marker, you gain the shown reward:

• Keep the point marker in front of you. It is worth points at the end of the game.
• Keep the coin marker in front of you. It can be discarded to pay for future costs.
• Immediately flip one of your used technology tiles face up. Since the marker also shows points or coins, keep the marker in front of you.
• Immediately take any one technology tile from the display (or top of the stack) and place it face up in front of you. Discard the export marker and refill the market as normal. Important: You do not gain the bonus shown next to the technology tile! If you take a gas plant tile, you place a platform and may immediately choose to place an oil barrel on this gas plant field.

At the end of your turn, remove all oil barrels placed on oil fields and return them to the supply.

Andrea exports three oil barrels. For this she receives 4 coins and one export marker worth points at game end, and she gets to flip one of her technology tiles up. The exported oil barrels are returned to the supply.

Game End

The game end is triggered after a player's turn when one of the following occurs:

When there are no more technology tiles in the stack to fill the display to four face-up tiles.

or

When a certain number of requirement tiles remain on the board:

• 3-4 players: 3 tiles remain (after 11 oil fields have been opened)
• 5 players: 2 tiles remain (after 12 oil fields have been opened)

All players, including the player who triggered the game end, may now carry out one final Export oil action. The player sitting left of the active player goes first, and then the other players follow clockwise. The player who triggered the game end will take the last export action.

Players now score points for adjacent platforms: For each pipeline on the game board, score 2 points if you have own platforms on both ends of the pipe.

Add your additional points:

• 1 point for every 3 coins you have (rounded down)
• Points shown on each face-up technology tile
• Points shown on each facedown technology tile
• Points shown on all your collected requirement tiles
• Points shown on all your collected export markers

The player with the highest total of points, wins the game.

Andrea scores 6 points as she has platforms on both ends of 3 pipelines.

Andrea scores 1 point for her remaining coins, 8 points for her face-up technologies, 4 points for her face-down technologies, 6 points from requirement tiles and 9 points from export markers.

Alternative Versions (Advanced & 2-Player Rules)

Secret objective tiles: At the beginning of the game, shuffle the secret objective tiles and give 1 to each player. You may look at your tile at any time, but keep it secret from the other players. At game end, you score 3 points for each oil field listed on the tile that has one of your platforms.

The game with 2 players: The standard rules apply, with the following changes:

• The starting player starts with 9 coins and the other player starts with 11 coins.
• Use the special active player marker (return the standard marker to the box).
• You cannot ask for help when opening an oil field. Instead, you may use the effect of one (and only one) technology tile that is lying face-up in the display. This technology tile is discarded at the end of the drilling phase, and the display is refilled.
• If you do not use a technology from the display, you get 2 coins in discount when opening the field (as indicated on the special active player marker).
• The game ends when 4 requirement tiles remain on the game board (after 10 oil fields have been opened).

Technologies

Technology tiles that are used to meet the requirements when opening an oil field, will give you benefits as described below. If another player helps you to open a field, all used technologies benefit both of you - no matter who owns each technology.

Each "Condeep" reduces the coins needed to open an oil field by 2. Example: A field that normally costs 3 coins to open, costs only 1 coin if you have a Condeep technology. With two condeep technologies, you would not have to pay any coins to open this field.

For each "Blowout Preventer" the number of pressure symbols needed for a blowout increases by one. Example: With 2 blowout preventers, the drilling will end in a blowout if you get 6 or more pressure symbols.

For each "3D seismology", skip one drilling space when you place the first drilling tile on the board (this will let you get to the more valuable spaces quicker).

Example: With two 3D seismology tiles, you get to skip the first two spaces when placing the first drilling tile.

For each "North Sea Diver", you gain all coins shown on the drilling tiles one additional time. Example: If your drilling tiles show 3 coins, using a North Sea Diver increases the reward to 6 coins. If you have two North Sea Divers, you would get 9 coins (3+3+3).

For each "Directional drilling", you receive fame points from the bottommost gas reservoir one additional time. Example: If the bottommost gas reservoir on your drilling tiles is at 4 points, one Directional Drilling increases the reward to 8 points. If you have two Directional Drilling, you would get 12 points (4+4+4).

For each "Gas injection", you receive 1 extra oil barrel at the end of the drilling phase. Note: You get this oil barrel even if you didn't find any oil while drilling.

When you buy a tile with a "Gas plant", immediately place one of your platforms on a vacant gas plant field and then return the technology tile to the game box.

Background & History

The Oil Fields

Ekofisk: The first Norwegian oil discovery, announced December 23, 1969. It was discovered almost by coincidence by oil company Philips, after several oil companies had concluded that there were neither oil nor gas in the Norwegian continental shelf. Ekofisk started production in 1971.

Frigg: Frigg started production in 1977 and was at one time the largest offshore gas field in the world, and the first partly remote-operated platform in Norway. Frigg was closed and dismantled in 2004, but the jacket remains in place as a cultural heritage monument.

Gullfaks: Gullfaks was the first Norwegian field that was fully developed without help from any foreign agents. The state-owned Statoil was operator, and Gullfaks therefore played an important role in the build-up of the Norwegian oil industry.

Oseberg: The Oseberg oil and gas field has four platforms, and functions as a hub for oil transport. Gas injection is used to maintain pressure in the Oseberg field.

Sleipner: Sleipner is a gas field and a hub for gas from Troll and Ormen Lange. On its way from its building site, the first jacket to Sleipner was lost when it tipped over and sank to 200 meters during a dramatic accident in 1991.

Snorre: Discovered in 1979. Oil production from 1992. The field has a complicated geology and the pressure is maintained by water-, gas- and foam injection.

Statfjord: Norway's third largest field, and one of the oldest. Production started in 1979. The field is located near the British sector, and at some time it was feared that the Brits would empty the Norwegian reservoirs before Norway could develop the field.

Sverdrup: The fifth largest oil reservoir discovered in Norway, and the most recent large finding. Production startup is estimated to 2019.

Troll: The Troll field was discovered in 1979 and is the largest petroleum discovery in Norway, surpassing Statfjord and Ekofisk combined. Troll is the largest gas field in Europe, measured in remaining resources.

Valhall: One of the oldest oil fields, discovered in 1975. Production started in 1982. Originally estimated to last 20 years, but after comprehensive upgrades, the field is still active.

Ormen Lange: The second largest gas field in Norway. No platforms, only diver-less, deep-water subsea frames, installed and managed by remote control.

Heidrun: The world's first floating concrete platform, connected to the seabed with tension legs (wires). Nominated for its comfort as "The pearl of Norwegian Sea" by oil industry employees.

Lofoten/Vesterålen: Politically disputed area for oil production, due to natural conditions and fisheries. The only field in this game that has not yet been approved for development.

Castberg: One of the most northern and recent discoveries in Norway. Found in 2011, production startup is estimated to 2022.

Snøhvit (Snow White): Gas field found in 1984, opened in 2002. At its time the northernmost field, and the largest in The Barents Sea. No platforms, only subsea installations, remotely controlled from shore.

Technologies

Blowout Preventers (BOP): Safety valves to prevent uncontrolled flow of oil and gas. The biggest blowout on the Norwegian continental shelf – the Bravo blowout in 1977 – happened during a BOP installation.

North Sea Divers, or so-called pioneer divers, had to perform dangerous diving missions under extreme conditions. In later days, they have been granted compensation for damages from the dangerous work. Today, manual diving is replaced by ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles).

Directional drilling is a technique to extend the search radius when drilling for oil and gas. Instead of ordinary vertical drilling, the drill is turned - up to 90 degrees - after it has penetrated the sea bed.

Condeep is a Norwegian-invented platform in reinforced concrete, designed to endure harsh weather conditions and surface powers. The Condeep is used on Statfjord, Troll, Sleipner, Gullfaks and Oseberg.

Gas injection means to pump gas into an existing oil and gas field, to increase the pressure and thereby increase production.

3D seismology provides a three-dimensional and hence more detailed image of the geological conditions than ordinary 2D imaging. 3D seismology was used for the first time on the Norwegian shelf in 1985, on the Oseberg field.