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. In many cases, the platform contains facilities to house the workforce as well.
The Statfjord oil field is an enormous oil and gas field covering 580 km2 in the U.K.-Norwegian boundary of the North Sea at a water depth of 145 m, discovered in 1974 by Mobil and since 1987 operated by Statoil.
Gullfaks is an oil and gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea operated by Statoil. It was discovered in 1978, in block 34/10, at a water depth of 130-230 meters. The initial recoverable reserve is 2.1 billion barrels, and the remaining recoverable reserve in 2004 is 234 million barrels. This oil field reached peak production in 2001 at 180,000 barrels per day (29,000 m3/d). It has satellite fields Gullfaks South, Rimfaks, Skinfaks and Gullveig.
Oseberg is an offshore oil field with a gas cap in the North Sea located 140 km (87 mi) northwest of the city of Bergen on the southwestern coast of Norway.
The field, which is 25 km long by 7 km wide, was discovered in 1979 and its development is known to be one of the significant milestones in emergence of Norway's independent oil and gas industry. The Oseberg field was named after Oseberg ship, one of Norway's most significant archeological discoveries. The ancient Viking ship from the early 9th century was discovered in a 1904 historical excavation of a burial mound at the Oseberg Farm, south of Oslo.
Snorre is an oil and gas field in the Tampen area in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea. The sea depth in the area is 300 to 350 metres. Snorre has been operational since August 1992. It was the first field developed by Saga Petroleum.
Troll is a natural gas and oil field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, one of the biggest in the North Sea, holding 40% of Norway’s gas – it also possesses significant quantities of oil, in thin zones under the gas cap, to the west of the field. The field as a whole consists of the main Troll East and Troll West structures in blocks 31/2, 31/3, 31/5 and 31/6, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) west of Kollsnes, near Bergen. Most of the gas lies in Troll East.
Condeep refers to a make of gravity-based structure for oil platforms developed by engineer Olav Mo in Hoeyer-Ellefsen and fabricated by Norwegian Contractors in Stavanger, Norway. A Condeep usually consists of a base of concrete oil storage tanks from which one, three or four concrete shafts rise. The Condeep base always rests on the sea floor, and the shafts rise to about 30 meters above the sea level. The platform deck itself is not a part of the construction.
The Norwegian Petroleum Museum is located in Stavanger, Norway.
Vats or Vatne is a village in Vindafjord municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located in the traditional district of Haugalandet between the southern end of the lake Vatsvatnet and the northern end of the Vatsfjorden. It sits about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of the village of Sandeid and about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southeast of the village of Skjold. Vats Church is located in this village.
CHC Helikopter Service, previously CHC Norway, CHC Helikopter Service and Helikopter Service is the Norwegian division of CHC Helicopter Corporation. The airline was an independent company until 1999. It operates primarily to oil platforms on the Norwegian continental shelf in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea, with crew change, infield shuttle and search and rescue operations. Though the global headquarters are in Richmond, B.C., Canada, the company has its main base at Stavanger Airport, Sola.
Europipe II is a natural gas pipeline from the Kårstø processing plant north of Stavanger to a receiving terminal at Dornum in Germany. It came on stream on 1 October 1999.
Sleipner A is a combined accommodations, production and processing offshore platform at the Sleipner East gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. For those in huds it collapsed. It is a Condeep-type oil platform, built in Norway by the company Norwegian Contractors for Statoil.
The Statpipe pipeline is a natural gas system, which links northern North Sea gas fields with the Norway's gas export system. It transports gas from Statfjord, Gullfaks, Heimdal, Veslefrikk, Snorre, Brage, Tordis and Statfjord gas fields.
A fixed platform is a type of offshore platform used for the production of oil or gas. 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. 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 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 500 feet ; for deeper depths a floating production system, or a subsea pipeline to land or to shallower water depths for processing, would usually be considered. To see more details regarding Design, construction and installation of such platforms refer to: and
Offshore concrete structures have been in use successfully for about 30 years. They serve the same purpose as their steel counterparts in the oil and gas production and storage. The first concrete oil platform has been installed in the North Sea in the Ekofisk field in 1973 by Phillips Petroleum. Since then 47 major concrete offshore structures have been built, whereby 21 of the 47 concrete substructures have been designed by Dr. techn. Olav Olsen.
Braathens Helikopter A/S was a Norwegian helicopter airline based at Stavanger Airport, Sola, and Bergen Airport, Flesland. It used a fleet of seven Aérospatiale Super Pumas to serve offshore oil platforms in the North Sea. The customers were Phillips Petroleum, Norsk Hydro, Statoil, Amoco and British Petroleum, serving their oil fields Ekofisk, Oseberg, Gullfaks, Veslefrikk, Valhall, Ula and Gyda. Braathens Helikopter operated from 1989 to 1993, after which it was sold to and merged with the main competitor, Helikopter Service. Braathens Helikopter was owned by Ludvig G. Braathens Rederi and was a sister company of the airline Braathens SAFE.
Suction caissons are a new form of fixed platform anchor that have a number of advantages over conventional offshore foundations, mainly being quicker to install than deep foundation piles and being easier to remove during decommissioning. Suction caissons are now used extensively worldwide for anchoring large offshore installations, like oil platforms, offshore drillings and accommodation platforms to the seafloor at great depths. In recent years, suction caissons have also seen usage for offshore wind turbines in shallower waters.
Sesam is a software suite for structural and hydrodynamic analysis of ships and offshore structures. It is based on the displacement formulation of the Finite Element Method.
Helikopter Service Flight 165 was a crash of a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter into the North Sea, 78 nautical miles northwest of Bergen, Norway, on 26 June 1978. The aircraft was en route from Bergen Airport, Flesland to Statfjord A, an offshore oil platform. The accident was caused by a fatigue crack in a knuckle joint, causing one of the rotor blades to loosen. All eighteen people on board were killed in the crash.
