Rig type;

An oil platform, offshore platform, or offshore drilling rig is a large structure with facilities
for well drilling to explore, extract, store, and process petroleum and natural gas which lies in
rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms will also contain facilities to
accommodate their workforce.
Most commonly, oil platforms engage in activities on the continental shelf, though they can also
be used in lakes, inshore waters and inland seas.
Depending on the circumstances,[1] the platform may be fixed to the ocean floor, may consist of
an artificial island, or may float. Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by
flow lines and by umbilical connections. These sub-sea solutions may consist of one or more
subsea wells, or of one or more manifold centres for multiple wells.
Offshore drilling presents environmental challenges, both from the produced hydrocarbons and
the materials used during the drilling operation. Controversies include the ongoing U.S. offshore
drilling debate.[2]
There are many different types of facilities from which offshore drilling operations take place.
These include bottom founded drilling rigs (jackup barges and swamp barges), combined drilling
and production facilities either bottom founded or floating platforms, and deepwater mobile
offshore drilling units (MODU) including semi-submersibles and drillships. These are capable of
operating in water depths up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). In shallower waters the mobile units are
anchored to the seabed, however in deeper water (more than 1,500 metres (4,900 ft))
the semisubmersibles or drillships are maintained at the required drilling location using dynamic
positioning.

Types; 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 and 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 or polyester
rope, or both, 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 60 to
6,000 metres (200 to 20,000 ft).

Jack-up drilling rigs[edit]

400 feet (120 m) tall jackup rig being towed by tugboats, Kachemak Bay, Alaska

Main article: Jackup rig

Jack-up Mobile Drilling Units (or jack-ups), as the name suggests, are rigs that can be jacked up
above the sea using legs that can be lowered, much like jacks. These MODUs (Mobile Offshore
Drilling Units) are typically used in water depths up to 120 metres (390 ft), although some
designs can go to 170 m (560 ft) depth. They are designed to move from place to place, and then
anchor themselves by deploying their legs to the ocean bottom using a rack and pinion gear
system on each leg.

Floating production systems[edit]

View of the Port of Las Palmas from the dock of La Esfinge

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. This is one of the best
sources for having floating production.
The world's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility is currently under development.

DEEPWATER DRILLING
Deepwater drilling,[1] or Deep well drilling,[2] is the process of creating holes by drilling rig for oil
mining in deep sea. There are approximately 3400 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico with
depths greater than 150 meters.z
It has not been technologically and economically feasible for many years, but with rising oil
prices, more companies are investing in this area.[4] Major companies working in this sector
include Halliburton, Diamond Offshore, TransOcean, Geoservices, and Schlumberger.

Types of Deepwater Drilling Facilities

Drilling in deep waters can be performed by two main types of mobile deepwater drilling
rigs: semi-submersible drilling rigs and drillships. Drilling can also be performed from a fixed-
position installation such as a fixed platform, or a floating platform, such as a spar platform,
a tension-leg platform, or a semi-submersible production platform.

1. Fixed Platform - A Fixed Platform consists of a tall, (usually) steel structure that supports
a deck. Because the Fixed Platform is anchored to the sea floor, it is very costly to build.
This type of platform can be installed in water depth up to 500 meters (1,600 feet).
2. Jack-Up Rig - Jack-up rigs are mobile units with a floating hull that can be moved around;
once arrived to the desired location, the legs are lowered to the sea floor and locked into
place. Then the platform is raised up out of the water. That makes this type of rig safer to
work on, because weather and waves are not an issue.
3. Compliant Tower Platform - A compliant tower is a particular type of fixed platform. Both
are anchored to the sea floor and both work places are above the water surface.
However, the compliant tower is taller and narrower, and can operate up to 1 kilometer
(3,000 feet) water depth.
4. Semi-Submersible Production Platform - This platform is buoyant, meaning the bulk of it
is floating above the surface. However, the well head is typically located on the sea floor,
so extra precautions must be made to prevent a leak. A contributing cause to the oil spill
disaster of 2010 was a failure of the leak-preventing system. These rigs can operate
anywhere from 200 to 2,000 meters (660 to 6,560 feet) below the surface.
 5. Tension-Leg Platform - The Tension-leg Platform consists of a floating structure, held in
place by tendons that run down to the sea floor. These rigs drill smaller deposits in
narrower areas, meaning this is a low-cost way to get a little oil, which attracts many
companies. These rigs can drill anywhere from 200 to 1,200 meters (660 to 3,940 feet)
below the surface.
6. Subsea System - Subsea Systems are actually wellheads, which sit on the sea floor and
extract oil straight from the ground. They use pipes to force the oil back up to the
surface, and can siphon oil to nearby platform rigs, a ship overhead, a local production
hub, or even a faraway onshore site. This makes the Subsea system very versatile and a
popular choice for companies.
7. Spar Platform - Spar Platforms use a large cylinder to support the floating deck from the
sea floor. On average, about 90% of the Spar Platform's structure is underwater. Most
Spar Platforms are used up to depths of 1 kilometer (3,000 feet), but new technology can
extend them to function up to 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) below the surface. That makes
it one of the deepest drilling rigs in use today.[13]

Drilling rig
This article is about the onshore oil rig. For offshore oil rig, see Oil platform.

Drilling the Bakken Formation in the Williston Basin

Large hole drilling rig for blast-hole drilling

A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, in the earth's
subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill water wells,
oil wells, or natural gas extraction wells, or they can be small enough to be moved manually by
one person and such are called augers. Drilling rigs can sample subsurface mineral deposits,
test rock, soil and groundwater physical properties, and also can be used to install sub-surface
fabrications, such as underground utilities, instrumentation, tunnels or wells. Drilling rigs can be
mobile equipment mounted on trucks, tracks or trailers, or more permanent land or marine-based
structures (such as oil platforms, commonly called 'offshore oil rigs' even if they don't contain a
drilling rig). The term "rig" therefore generally refers to the complex equipment that is used to
penetrate the surface of the Earth's crust.
Small to medium-sized drilling rigs are mobile, such as those used in mineral exploration drilling,
blast-hole, water wells and environmental investigations. Larger rigs are capable of drilling
through thousands of metres of the Earth's crust, using large "mud pumps" to circulate drilling
mud (slurry) through the drill bit and up the casing annulus, for cooling and removing the
"cuttings" while a well is drilled. Hoists in the rig can lift hundreds of tons of pipe. Other
equipment can force acid or sand into reservoirs to facilitate extraction of the oil or natural gas;
and in remote locations there can be permanent living accommodation and catering for crews
(which may be more than a hundred). Marine rigs may operate thousands of miles distant from
the supply base with infrequent crew rotation or cycle.

History[edit]

Antique drilling rig now on display at Western History Museum in Lingle, Wyoming. It was used to drill many
water wells in that area—many of those wells are still in use.

Antique drilling rigs in Zigong, China

Until internal combustion engines were developed in the late 19th century, the main method for
drilling rock was muscle power of man or animal. The technique of oil drilling
through percussion or rotary drilling has its origins dating back to the ancient Chinese Han
Dynasty in 500 BC, where percussion drilling was used to extract natural gas in the Sichuan
province.[1] Early oil and gas drilling methods were seemingly primitive as it required several
technical skills.[1][2] The skills involved the availability of heavy iron bits and long bamboo poles,
the manufacturing of long and sturdy cables woven from bamboo fiber, and levers. Heavy iron
bits were attached to long bamboo cables suspended from bamboo derricks and then were
repeatedly raised and dropped into a manually dug hole by having two to six men jumping on a
lever.[1] Han dynasty oil wells made by percussion drilling was effective but only reached 10
meters deep and 100 meters by the 10th century.[1] By the 16th century, the Chinese were
exploring and drilling oil wells more than 2000 feet deep.[2] A modernized variant of the ancient
Chinese drilling technique was used by American businessman Edwin Drake to drill
Pennsylvania's first oil well in 1859 using small steam engines to power the drilling process
rather than by human muscle.[1]
In the 1970s, outside of the oil and gas industry, roller bits using mud circulation were replaced
by the first pneumatic reciprocating piston Reverse Circulation (RC) drills, and became
essentially obsolete for most shallow drilling, and are now only used in certain situations where
rocks preclude other methods. RC drilling proved much faster and more efficient, and continues
to improve with better metallurgy, deriving harder, more durable bits, and compressors delivering
higher air pressures at higher volumes, enabling deeper and faster penetration. Diamond drilling
has remained essentially unchanged since its inception.

Petroleum drilling industry

Oil and natural gas drilling rigs are used not only to identify geologic reservoirs but also to create
holes that allow the extraction of oil or natural gas from those reservoirs. Primarily in onshore oil
and gas fields once a well has been drilled, the drilling rig will be moved off of the well and a
service rig (a smaller rig) that is purpose-built for completions will be moved on to the well to get
the well on line.[3] This frees up the drilling rig to drill another hole and streamlines the operation
as well as allowing for specialization of certain services, i.e. completions vs. drilling.

HISTPRY OF OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS

Offshore drilling began in 1897, just 38 years after Col. Edwin Drake drilled the first well in 1859.
H.L. Williams is credited with drilling a well off a wooden pier in the Santa Barbara Channel in
California. He used the pier to support a land rig next to an existing field. Five years later, there
were 150 “offshore” wells in the area. By 1921, steel piers were being used in Rincon and
Elwood (California) to support land-type drilling rigs. In 1932, a steel-pier island (60 × 90 ft with a
25-ft air gap) was built ½ mile offshore by a small oil company, Indian Petroleum Corp., to
support another onshore-type rig. Although the wells were disappointing and the island was
destroyed in 1940 by a storm, it was the forerunner of the steel-jacketed platforms of today.[1]

List of components of oil drilling rigs

This article lists the main components of a petroleum onshore drilling rig.
Offshore drilling rigs have similar elements, but are configured with a number of different drilling
systems to suit drilling in the marine environment.
The equipment associated with a rig is to some extent dependent on the type of rig but typically
includes at least some of the items listed below.
List of items[edit]

Simple diagram of a drilling rig and its basic operation

1. Mud tank
2. Shale shakers
3. Suction line (mud pump)
4. Mud pump
5. Motor or power source
6. hose
7. Draw-works
8. Standpipe
9. Kelly hose
10. Goose-neck
11. Traveling block
12. Drill line
13. Crown block
14. Derrick
15. Racking Board (Sometimes referred to as the Monkey Board)
16. Stand (of drill pipe)
 17. Setback (floor)
18. Swivel (On newer rigs this may be replaced by a top drive)
19. Kelly drive
20. Rotary table
21. Drill floor
22. Bell nipple
23. Blowout preventer (BOP) Annular type
24. Blowout preventer (BOP) Pipe ram & blind ram
25. Drill string
26. Drill bit
27. Casing head or Wellhead
28. Flow line

Explanation[edit]
 Bell nipple (#22) is a section of large diameter pipe fitted to the top of the blowout
preventers that the flow line attaches to via a side outlet, to allow the drilling mud to flow
back to the mud tanks.
 Blowout preventers (BOPs) (#23 and #24) are devices installed at the wellhead to prevent
fluids and gases from unintentionally escaping from the wellbore. #23 is the annular (often
referred to as Hydril named after a manufacturer), and #24 is the pipe rams and blind rams.
 Casing head (#27) is a large metal flange welded or screwed onto the top of the conductor
pipe (also known as drive-pipe) or the casing and is used to bolt the surface equipment such
as the blowout preventers (for well drilling) or the Christmas tree (oil well) (for well
production).
 Centrifuge (not pictured) is an industrial version of the device that separates fine silt and
sand from the drilling fluid. It is typically mounted on top or just off of the mud tanks.
 Crown block (#13) is the stationary end of the block and tackle.
 Degasser (not pictured) is a device that separates air and/or gas from the drilling fluid. It is
typically mounted on top of the mud tanks.
 Derrick (#14) is the support structure for the equipment used to lower and raise the drill
string into and out of the wellbore. This consists of the sub-structure (structure below the drill
floor level) and the mast.
 Desander / desilter (not pictured) contains a set of hydrocyclones that separate sand and silt
from the drilling fluid. Typically mounted on top of the mud tanks.
 Draw-works (#7) is the mechanical section that contains the spool, whose main function is to
reel in/out the drill line to raise/lower the traveling block.
 Drill bit (#26) is a device attached to the end of the drill string that breaks apart the rock
being drilled. It contains jets through which the drilling fluid exits.
 Drill floor (#21) is the area on the rig where the tools are located to make the connections of
the drill pipe, bottom hole assembly, tools and bit. It is considered the main area where work
is performed.
 Drill line (#12) is thick, stranded metal cable threaded through the two blocks (traveling and
crown) to raise and lower the drill string.
 Drill pipe (#16) is a joint of hollow tubing used to connect the surface equipment to
the bottom hole assembly (BHA) and acts as a conduit for the drilling fluid. In the diagram,
these are stands of drill pipe which are 2 or 3 joints of drill pipe connected and stood in the
derrick vertically, usually to save time while tripping pipe.
 Drill string (#25) is an assembled collection of drill pipe, heavy weight drill pipe, drill collars
and any of a whole assortment of tools, connected and run into the wellbore to facilitate the
drilling of a well. The collection is referred to singularly as the drill string.
 Elevators (not pictured) are hinged devices that is used to latch to the drill pipe or casing to
facilitate the lowering or lifting (of pipe or casing) into or out of the wellbore.
 Flow line (#28) is large diameter pipe that is attached to the bell nipple and extends to
the shale shakers to facilitate the flow of drilling fluid back to the mud tanks.
 Goose-neck (#10) is a thick metal elbow connected to the swivel and standpipe that supports
the weight of and provides a downward angle for the kelly hose to hang from.
 Kelly drive (#19) is a square, hexagonal or octagonal shaped tubing that is inserted through
and is an integral part of the rotary table that moves freely vertically while the rotary table
turns it.
 Kelly hose (#9) is a flexible, high pressure hose that connects the standpipe to the kelly (or
more specifically to the gooseneck on the swivel above the kelly) and allows free vertical
movement of the kelly, while facilitating the flow of the drilling fluid through the system and
down the drill string.
 Racking board (#15) is the catwalk along the side of the derrick (usually about 35 or 40 feet
above the "floor"). The monkey board is where the derrick man works while "tripping" pipe.
 Mud motor (not pictured) is a hydraulically powered device positioned just above the drill
bit used to spin the bit independently from the rest of the drill string.
 Mud pump (#4) is a reciprocal type of pump used to circulate drilling fluid through the
system.
 Mud tank (#1) is often called mud pits and stores drilling fluid until it is required down the
wellbore.
 Setback (#17) is a part of the drill floor (#21) where the stands of drill pipe are stood upright.
It is typically made of a metal frame structure with large wooden beams situated within it. The
wood helps to protect the end of the drill pipe.
 Rotary table (#20) rotates, along with its constituent parts, the kelly and kelly bushing, the
drill string and the attached tools and bit.
 Shale shaker (#2) separates drill cuttings from the drilling fluid before it is pumped back
down the wellbore.
 Stand (#16) is a section of 2 or 3 joints of drill pipe connected and stood upright in
the derrick. When they are pulled out of the hole, instead of laying down each joint of drill
pipe, 2 or 3 joints are left connected and stood in the derrick to save time.
 Standpipe (#8) is a thick metal tubing, situated vertically along the derrick, that facilitates the
flow of drilling fluid and has attached to it and supports one end of the kelly hose.
 Suction line (#3) is an intake line for the mud pump to draw drilling fluid from the mud tanks.
 Swivel (#18) is the top end of the kelly that allows the rotation of the drill string without
twisting the block.
 Traveling block (#11) is the moving end of the block and tackle. Together, they give a
significant mechanical advantage for lifting.
 Vibrating hose (#6) is a flexible, high pressure hose (similar to the kelly hose) that connects
the mud pump to the stand pipe. It is called the vibrating hose because it tends to vibrate and
shake (sometimes violently) due to its close proximity to the mud pumps.