Floating solutions such as floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels were historically used for shallow-water marginal fields where it did not make sense to invest in long-term infrastructure such as fixed platforms.
In such situations, an operator brought in a floater with storage capabilities, produced the field, and transitioned the unit to another marginal field.
Eventually, the offshore market stepped out to ever-deeper waters, where fixed platforms were not possible.
