ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one overarching type in particular: the floating production, storage and offloading unit, or FPSO. First seen in 1976, FPSOs were initially viewed as an economically viable means of extracting oil from marginal fields, but they have since grown in importance and now account for a large portion of all FPSs engaged in offshore activities. This chapter discusses which regime a victim of an oil spill resulting from a FPSO might potentially use to claim for his damage, which might be liable for such damage and to what extent. FPSOs can be converted from old tankers. These are usually seen on smaller or medium-sized fields, and where the extracted hydrocarbons do not require much processing. To extend compensation to spills caused by the production and processing of oil, or even its mere storage, would unfairly burden receivers, who would be forced to pay contributions which would be more appropriately covered by other industries.
