The objective of this paper is to present the historical development of installed riser systems from the earliest offshore installations to the current state of the art and into the future.

The paper describes the main driving forces during the riser design process and presents the evolution of riser technology in a range of different regions and describes the influencing factors behind each development and the propagation of technology around the world. Using graphical visualizations of an extensive dataset of installed riser systems, the paper breaks down the global trends in riser by type, size, water depth and market dominance.