Oil platform

Platform P-51 off the Brazilian coast

An offshore platform, often referred to as an oil platform or (somewhat incorrectly) oil rig, is a large structure
used to house workers and machinery needed to drill wells in the ocean bed, extract oil and/or natural gas,
process the produced fluids, and ship them to shore. Depending on the circumstances, the platform may be
fixed to the ocean floor, may consist of an artificial island, or may float.
Most offshore platforms are located on the continental shelf, though with advances in technology and
increasing crude oil prices, drilling and production in deeper waters has become both feasible and
economically viable. A typical platform may have around thirty wellheads located on the platform and
directional drilling allows reservoirs to be accessed at both different depths and at remote positions up to 5
miles (8 kilometers) from the platform.
Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by flow lines and by umbilical connections; these
subsea solutions may consist of single wells or of a manifold centre for multiple wells.

o 2.1 Fixed platforms

o 2.2 Compliant towers
o 2.3 Semi-submersible platform
o 2.4 Jack-up platforms
o 2.5 Drillships
o 2.6 Floating production systems
o 2.7 Tension-leg platform
o 2.8 Spar platforms

Normally unmanned installations

The Thames Sea Forts of World War II are considered the direct predecessors of modern offshore platforms.
Having been pre-constructed in a very short time, they were then floated to their location and placed on the
shallow bottom of the Thames estuary.In 1938, the Superior Oil company constructed the first offshore oil
platform off the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. However, the first producing platform out of sight of land was installed
by the Kerr-Mc Gee Company in 1947. This is the date generally accepted as the start of the offshore oil era.

Types

Larger lake- and sea-based offshore platforms and drilling rigs are some of the largest moveable man-made
structures in the world. There are several distinct types of platforms and rigs:

Fixed platforms

A fixed platform base under construction on a Louisiana river

These platforms are built on concrete and/or steel legs anchored directly onto the seabed, supporting a deck
with space for drilling rigs, production facilities and crew quarters. Such platforms are, by virtue of their
immobility, designed for very long term use (for instance the Hibernia platform). Various types of structure are
used, steel jacket, concrete caisson, floating steel and even floating concrete. Steel jackets are vertical
sections made of tubular steel members, and are usually piled into the seabed. Concrete caisson structures,
pioneered by the Condeep concept, often have in-built oil storage in tanks below the sea surface and these
tanks were often used as a flotation capability, allowing them to be built close to shore (Norwegian fjords and
Scottish firths are popular because they are sheltered and deep enough) and then floated to their final position
where they are sunk to the seabed. Fixed platforms are economically feasible for installation in water depths
up to about 1,700 feet (520 m).

Compliant towers

Main article: Compliant Tower

These platforms consist of slender flexible towers and of a pile foundation supporting a conventional deck for
drilling and production operations. Compliant towers are designed to sustain significant lateral deflections and
forces, and are typically used in water depths ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 ft (450 to 900 m).

Semi-submersible platform

Main article: Semi-submersible platform

These platforms have hulls (columns and pontoons) of sufficient buoyancy to cause the structure to float, but
of weight sufficient to keep the structure upright. Semi-submersible platforms can be moved from place to
place; can be ballasted up or down by altering the amount of flooding in buoyancy tanks; they are generally
anchored by combinations of chain, wire rope and/or polyester rope during drilling and/or production
operations, though they can also be kept in place by the use of dynamic positioning. Semi-submersibles can
be used in water depths from 200 to 10,000 feet (60 to 3,050 m).

Jack-up platforms

Main article: Jackup rig

Jack-up platforms (or jack-ups), as the name suggests, are platforms that can be jacked up above the sea
using legs that can be lowered, much like jacks. These platforms are typically used in water depths up to
400 feet (120 m), although some designs can go to 550 feet (170 m) depth. They are designed to move from
place to place, and then anchor themselves by deploying the legs to the ocean bottom using a rack and pinion
gear system on each leg.

Drillships

Main article: Drillship

A drillship is a maritime vessel that has been fitted with drilling apparatus. It is most often used for exploratory
drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep water but can also be used for scientific drilling. Early versions were built
on a modified tanker hull, but purpose-built designs are used today. Most drillships are outfitted with a dynamic
positioning system to maintain position over the well. They can drill in water depths up to 12,000 feet (3,660
m).

Floating production systems

Main article: Floating Production Storage and Offloading

The main types of floating production systems are FPSO (floating production, storage, and offloading system).
FPSOs consist of large monohull structures, generally (but not always) shipshaped, equipped with processing
facilities. These platforms are moored to a location for extended periods, and do not actually drill for oil or gas.
Some variants of these applications, called FSO (floating storage and offloading system) or FSU (floating
storage unit), are used exclusively for storage purposes, and host very little process equipment.

Tension-leg platform

Main article: Tension-leg platform

TLPs are floating platforms tethered to the seabed in a manner that eliminates most vertical movement of the
structure. TLPs are used in water depths up to about 6,000 feet (2,000 m). The "conventional" TLP is a 4-
column design which looks similar to a semisubmersible. Proprietary versions include the Seastar and MOSES
mini TLPs; they are relatively low cost, used in water depths between 600 and 4,300 feet (200 and 1,300 m).
Mini TLPs can also be used as utility, satellite or early production platforms for larger deepwater discoveries.
A 'Statfjord' Gravity base structure under construction in Norway. Almost all of the structure will end up
submerged.

Spar platforms

Main article: Spar (platform)

Spars are moored to the seabed like TLPs, but whereas a TLP has vertical tension tethers, a spar has more
conventional catenary mooring lines. Spars have to-date been designed in three configurations: the
"conventional" one-piece cylindrical hull, the "truss spar" where the midsection is composed of truss elements
connecting the upper buoyant hull (called a hard tank) with the bottom soft tank containing permanent ballast,
and the "cell spar" which is built from multiple vertical cylinders. The spar has more inherent stability than a
TLP since it has a large counterweight at the bottom and does not depend on the mooring to hold it upright. It
also has the ability, by adjusting the mooring line tensions (using chain-jacks attached to the mooring lines), to
move horizontally and to position itself over wells at some distance from the main platform location. The first
production spar was Kerr-McGee's Neptune, anchored in 1,930 feet (588 m) in the Gulf of Mexico; however,
spars (such as Brent Spar) were previously used as FSOs. Eni's Devil's Tower is located in 5,610 feet (1,710
m) of water, in the Gulf of Mexico, and is currently the world's deepest spar; however, when Shell's Perdido
spar is installed (expected mid-2009), it will be the deepest at almost 8,000 feet (2,438 m). The first Truss
spars were Kerr-McGee's Boomvang and Nansen. The first (and only) cell spar is Kerr-McGee's Red Hawk.

Normally unmanned installations

These installations (sometimes called toadstools), are small platforms, consisting of little more than a well bay,
helipad and emergency shelter. They are designed to operate remotely under normal conditions, only to be
visited occasionally for routine maintenance or well work.

Conductor Support Systems

These installations, also known as satellite platforms, are small unmanned platforms consisting of little more
than a well bay, and a small process plant. They are designed to operate in conjunction with a static
production platform which is connected to the platform by flow lines and/or by Umbilical cable.

Especially large examples

The Petronius Platform is a compliant tower in the Gulf of Mexico, which stands 2,000 feet (610 m) above the
ocean floor. It is one of the world's tallest structures.
The Hibernia platform is the world's largest (in terms of weight) offshore platform, located on the Jeanne D'Arc
basin, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. This Gravity Base Structure (GBS), which sits on
the ocean floor, is 364 feet (111 m) high and has storage capacity for 1.3 million barrels (210,000 m3) of crude
oil in its 278.8-foot (85.0 m) high caisson. The platform acts as a small concrete island with serrated outer
edges designed to withstand the impact of an iceberg. The GBS contains production storage tanks and the
remainder of the void space is filled with ballast with the entire structure weighing in at 1.2 million tons.

Maintenance and supply

A typical oil production platform is self-sufficient in energy and water needs, housing electrical generation,
water desalinators and all of the equipment necessary to process oil and gas such that it can be either
delivered directly onshore by pipeline or to a Floating Storage Unit and/or tanker loading facility. Elements in
the oil/gas production process include wellhead, production manifold, production separator, glycol process to
dry gas, gas compressors, water injection pumps, oil/gas export metering and main oil line pumps.
Larger platforms are assisted by smaller ESVs (emergency support vessels) like the British Iolair that are
summoned when something has gone wrong, e.g. when a search and rescue operation is required. During
normal operations, PSVs (platform supply vessels) keep the platforms provisioned and supplied, and AHTS
vessels can also supply them, as well as tow them to location and serve as standby rescue and firefighting
vessels.

Crew

Essential personnel

Not all of these personnel are present on every platform, on smaller platforms workers will be responsible for
several areas. The names shown are not industry-wide.
 OIM (offshore installation manager) is the ultimate authority during his/her shift and makes the
essential decisions regarding the operation of the platform.
 Operations Team Leader (OTL)
 Offshore Operations Engineer (OOE) is the senior technical authority on the platform
 PSTL or Operations coordinator for managing crew changes
 Dynamic Positioning Operator, navigation, ship or vessel maneuvering (MODU), station keeping, fire
and gas systems operations in the event of incident
 2nd Mate - Meets manning requirements of flag state, operates Fast Rescue craft, cargo ops, fire team
leader.
 3rd Mate - Meets manning requirements of flag state, operates Fast Rescue craft, cargo ops, fire team
leader
 Ballast Control Operator _ also fire and gas systems operator
 Crane operators to operate the cranes for lifting cargo around the platform and between boats.
 Scaffolders to rig up scaffolding for when it is required for workers to work at height.
 Coxwains for maintaining the lifeboats and manning them if necessary.
 Control room operators - Especially FPSO or Production platforms.
 Catering crew will include people tasked with performing essential functions such as cooking, laundry
and cleaning the accommodation.

 Production techs for running the production plant

  Helicopter Pilot(s) live on some platforms that have a helicopter based offshore. The helicopter flight
crew transports workers to other platforms or to shore on crew changes.
 maintenance technicians (instrument, electrical, mechanical)

Incidental personnel

 Drill crew will be on board if the installation is performing drilling operations. A drill crew will normally
comprise:
o Toolpusher
o Roughnecks
o Roustabouts
o Company man
o Mud engineer
o Derrickhand
o Geologist

 Well services crew will be on board for well work. The crew will normally comprise:
o Well services supervisor
o Wireline or coiled tubing operators
o Pump operator

Drawbacks

Risks

A typical offshore Oil/Gas platform.

The nature of their operation — extraction of volatile substances sometimes under extreme pressure in a
hostile environment — means risk, accidents, and tragedies occasionally occur. In July 1988, 167 people died
when Occidental Petroleum's Piper Alpha offshore production platform, on the Piper field in the UK sector of
the North Sea, exploded after a gas leak. The accident greatly accelerated the practice of providing living
accommodations on separate platforms, away from those used for extraction.
However, this was in itself a hazardous environment. In March 1980, the 'flotel' (floating hotel) platform
Alexander Kjelland capsized in a storm in the North Sea with the loss of 123 lives.
In 2001, the Petrobras 36 Oil Platform exploded and killed 11 people in Brazil. The platform sank five days
after the explosions.
In 2002, an oil rig exploded just offshore near New Orleans.
Given the number of grievances and conspiracy theories that involve the oil business, and the importance of
gas/oil platforms to the economy, platforms in the United States are believed to be potential terrorist targets.
Agencies and military units responsible for maritime counterterrorism in the US (Coast Guard, Navy SEALs,
Marine Recon) often train for platform raids.

Ecological effects

NOAA map of the 3,858 oil and gas platforms extant in the Gulf of Mexico in 2006.

Further effects are the leaching of heavy metals that accumulate in buoyancy tanks into water; and risks
associated with their disposal. There has been concern expressed at the practice of partially demolishing
offshore rigs to the point that ships can traverse across their site; there have been instances of fishery vessels
snagging nets on the remaining structures. Proposals for the disposal at sea of the Brent Spar, a 449 ft
(137 m) tall storage buoy (another true function of that which is termed an oil rig), was for a time in 1996 an
environmental cause célèbre in the UK after Greenpeace occupied the floating structure. The event led to a
reconsideration of disposal policy in the UK and Europe.
In the United States, Marine Biologist Milton Love has proposed that oil platforms off the California coast be
retained as artificial reefs, instead of being dismantled (at great cost), because he has found them to be
havens for many of the species of fish which are otherwise declining in the region, in the course of 11 years of
research. Love is funded mainly by government agencies, but also in small part by the California Artificial Reef
Enhancement Program. NOAA has said it is considering this course of action, but wants money to study the
effects of the rigs in detail. Divers have been used to assess the fish populations surrounding the platforms. In
the Gulf of Mexico, more than 200 platforms have been similarly converted.

Tallest oil platforms

Depth records have been published. The tallest rigid structure oil platform is the floating Magnolia ETLP which
is about 1,500 meters (5,000 ft).

Non-floating platforms are:

 Petronius Platform, 610 meters (2,000 ft)
 Baldpate Platform, 579.1 meters (1,900 ft)
 Bullwinkle Platform, 529.1 meters (1,736 ft)
 Troll A platform, 472 meters (1,550 ft)
 Gullfaks C, 380 meters (1,200 ft)