As home to supermajors, as well as a plethora of smaller, independent energy players, the US boasts one of the largest concentrations of energy personnel in the world. With its insatiable appetite for energy resources, the United States is the world's single largest consumer of oil, using as much as 20.73 million barrels per day as of 2008. Recently, interest has peaked in the vast quantity of untapped natural gas resources in the US, the reserves of which were inventoried in 2008 at 238 Tcf, with producers specifically targeting the nation's promising shale formations for this energy commodity.
Heavy Lift describes marine installation of heavy equipment such as topsides and production equipment. There are different methods of heavy lifting used in the oil and gas industry, including heavy lift barges, which uses cranes to move equipment and floatover installation, which uses a semi-submersible vessel to lower itself under water to move the equipment into place. Pipelay involves laying pipe on the ocean floor to connect production platforms to shore. Many different types of vessels can carry out this function, but they require a heavy lift crane.