The Ocean Odyssey was a drilling rig owned by ODECO and on hire to ARCO. On 22nd September 1988 it suffered a blowout while drilling a prospect near to Shell's Shearwater development. In the resulting fire the radio operator, Timothy Williams, was killed after being ordered from the lifeboats by the rig's manager.

The Odyssey spent the next several years as a rusting hulk looming over Dundee's docks before embarking on a new and unusual phase of it's life - after several years of rebuilding Boeing corporation put it back into service as a mobile base for launching satellites from, under the title "Sea Launch".