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 that 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, the platform may be fixed to the ocean floor, consist of an artificial island, or 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 construction is the installation of structures and facilities in a marine environment, usually for the production and transmission of electricity, oil, gas and other resources. It is also called maritime engineering.
Iolair is a specialised semi-submersible offshore platform designed for BP to support and service oil platforms in the North Sea and served as an emergency support vessel (ESV) in the Forties Oil Field. Since 2000 it has been working in the Cantarell Field, Mexico as an offshore construction and maintenance service vessel operated by Cotemar S.A de C.V.
Ocean Ranger was a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit that sank in Canadian waters on 15 February 1982. It was drilling an exploration well on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, 267 kilometres (166 mi) east of St. John's, Newfoundland, for Mobil Oil of Canada, Ltd. (MOCAN) with 84 crew members on board when it sank. There were no survivors.
A semi-submersible platform is a specialised marine vessel used in offshore roles including as offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms, and heavy lift cranes. They have good ship stability and seakeeping, better than drillships.
Alexander L. Kielland was a Norwegian semi-submersible drilling rig that capsized while working in the Ekofisk oil field in March 1980, killing 123 people. It was a platform of the Pentagone series.
A platform supply vessel (PSV) is a ship specially designed to supply offshore oil and gas platforms. These ships range from 50 to 100 metres in length and accomplish a variety of tasks. The primary function for most of these vessels is logistic support and transportation of goods, tools, equipment and personnel to and from offshore oil platforms and other offshore structures. In recent years, a new generation of platform supply vessels entered the market, usually equipped with Class 1 or Class 2 dynamic positioning system. Military applications are also under development as in the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System.
LP Odyssey is a self-propelled semi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform converted from a mobile drilling rig in 1997.
A diving support vessel is a ship that is used as a floating base for professional diving projects.
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty that sets minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of merchant ships. The convention requires signatory flag states to ensure that ships flagged by them comply with at least these standards.
A davit is any of various crane-like devices used on a ship for supporting, raising, and lowering equipment such as boats and anchors.
A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of breathing gas for the occupants.
Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad is a Malaysian owned shipbuilding and heavy engineering industries company. It was formerly known as Malaysia Shipyard and Engineering Sdn Bhd. MHB has been long involved in oil and gas engineering and construction works.
Maritime security is concerned with the prevention of intentional damage through sabotage, subversion, or terrorism. Maritime security is one of the three basic roles of the United States Coast Guard has gradually developed in response to a series of catastrophic events, which began in 1917.
A jackup rig or a self-elevating unit is a type of mobile platform that consists of a buoyant hull fitted with a number of movable legs, capable of raising its hull over the surface of the sea. The buoyant hull enables transportation of the unit and all attached machinery to a desired location. Once on location the hull is raised to the required elevation above the sea surface supported by the sea bed. The legs of such units may be designed to penetrate the sea bed, may be fitted with enlarged sections or footings, or may be attached to a bottom mat. Generally jackup rigs are not self-propelled and rely on tugs or heavy lift ships for transportation.
A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts (liferafts) are also used. In the military, a lifeboat may double as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors usually carry inflatable liferafts, though a few prefer small proactive lifeboats that are harder to sink and can be sailed to safety.
BOSIET stands for basic offshore safety induction and emergency training, a course created to assist in meeting the initial offshore safety training, emergency response training and assessment requirements for personnel new to the offshore oil and gas industry.
International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) is an international maritime convention establishing measures for dealing with marine oil pollution incidents nationally and in co-operation with other countries. As of November 2018, there are 112 state parties to the convention.
An Emergency Disconnect Package (EDP) is a piece of equipment used in the drilling and work-over of deep sea oil & gas wells, by Mobile Offshore Drilling Rigs (MODU's) and Well Intervention Vessels (WIV's). The EDP is designed for use in an emergency, when the MODU or WIV needs to quickly disconnect, and move away from the oil/gas well that it is drilling or working-over. Examples of when this might be necessary include unexpected extreme weather that exceeds the MODU/Vessel's capability to maintain its position.
Petroleum exploitation companies operate a fleet of Ice Breaking Emergency Evacuation Vessels (IBEEV) on the Caspian Sea, to service the extensive oil fields there. The vessels are designed to evacuate up to 338 individuals per trip. They are designed to function using compressed air to power their engines, if they are passing through pools of burning oil, or oxygen poor environments—carrying enough compressed air to function for 50 minutes. Every evacuee is issued a rebreather, for passing through anoxic environments, if the airtight evacuation capsules are compromised. The vessels are insulated so passengers and crew can survive transiting through pools of burning oil. Since the Caspian freezes during winter the vessels are designed to break up to 0.6 metres (2.0 ft) of ice.
