10.10.2011

Oil Rig Construction is Not a One Horse Show

Oil rig construction is a specialized field. It requires unique equipment and specially trained employees. There are two types of oil rigs, the ones on land and the ones offshore. Both require different equipment and training. Drilling rigs can be small and portable. Oil rigs are huge. They have to drill through thousands of meters of ground. They have large mud pumps that circulate the slurry or drilling mud. The mud is used to keep the drill bit cool. The drilling mud goes through the drill bit and up the casing annulus. This cools the bit and removes the waste material as the well is drilled. The hoists in the rig need to lift hundreds of tons of pipe. Other equipment is used to extract the oil or natural gas. Some remote locations require living courters and catering for crews. All of this can be considered part of the constructions.

Offshore oil rig construction needs to provide everything. This includes living space to the equipment required to process crude oil. A fixed drilling platform is built on concrete or steel legs that are anchored directly into the seabed. The legs support the deck. The deck has room for drilling rigs, oil production facilities and crew accommodations. A compliant tower is also a fixed structure. It has narrow flexible towers and a piled foundation instead of concrete or steel legs. Semi-submersible platforms have legs with buoyancy tanks or pontoon-like structures. The platform can be moved as need be. They are anchored by cable anchors when not being moved.

Jack-up rigs are the most common drilling platform. It has supporting legs that stand on the sea floor. The columns or legs can be moved up and down using a hydraulic or electrical system. When the legs are up the rig can be moved to a new location. At the new location, the legs or columns are moved down until they are on the sea floor, Tension-leg platform is moored using tethers or tendons at each corner. A Spar drilling platform has about 90% of its structure underwater. It uses a single vertical cylinder to support a deck. It works under the same principle a buoy does. Each one of these oil rigs meets a different need.

Utilize by above mentioned oil rig construction.