An oil platform is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms will also have facilities to accommodate the workers, although it is also common to have a separate accommodation platform bridge linked to the production platform. 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. In some arrangements the main facility may have storage facilities for the processed oil. Remote subsea wells may also be connected to a platform by flow lines and by umbilical connections. These sub-sea facilities may include one or more subsea wells or manifold centres for multiple wells.
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.
Transocean Ltd. is an American company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Vernier, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In recent years the vessels have been used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped with the latest and most advanced dynamic positioning systems.
Valaris Limited is an offshore drilling contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and incorporated in the UK. It is the largest offshore drilling and well drilling company in the world, and owns 56 rigs, including 40 offshore jackup rigs, 11 drillships, and 5 semi-submersible platform drilling rigs.
Jio-bp legally Reliance BP Mobility Limited, formally known as Reliance Petroleum is an Indian petroleum company that specializes in oil and energy, owned by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), one of India's largest private sector companies. It is based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India and has interests in the downstream oil business. RPL was merged with Reliance Industries Limited on 29 September 2009.
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. is an offshore drilling contractor. The company is headquartered in Katy, Texas, United States, and has major offices in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, Singapore, and Norway.
Seadrill is a deepwater drilling contractor for the petroleum industry. It is incorporated in Bermuda for tax purposes and managed from London and Houston The company operates semi-submersible platforms, jackup rigs and drillships.
Smedvig ASA, ("Smedvig"), was a Norwegian offshore oil rig company headquartered in Stavanger until it was acquired by rig newcomer SeaDrill of tanker mogul John Fredriksen. At time of the merger Smedvig operated two semi submersibles, one drillship and one jack up rig in the Norwegian and British sector of the North Sea. A fleet of seven tender rigs were operated in South East Asia from the Singaporean subsidiary Smedvig Asia. As part of the merger, Smedvig's staff was transferred to Seadrill with Smedvig senior personnel assuming key positions in Seadrill. Smedvig was delisted from the OSE and NYSE, while Seadrill is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Essar Shipping Ltd., now Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics Limited, is an Indian shipping corporation for the global energy business. Founded in 1945, the company was incorporated in 2010. The company is listed in Bombay Stock Exchange BSE: 500630. The company headquarters is located in Mumbai. The company is a part of Essar Group.
Songa Offshore SE is a European offshore drilling contractor founded in 2005 with offices in Cyprus, Stavanger, Oslo, Houston, Kuala Lumpur, Aberdeen, and Singapore.
Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the term is used to describe drilling activities on the continental shelf, though the term can also be applied to drilling in lakes, inshore waters and inland seas.
Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing at the seabed and causing the largest marine oil spill in history.
Noble Corporation plc is an offshore drilling contractor organized in London, United Kingdom. Its affiliate, Noble Corporation, is organized in the Cayman Islands. It is the corporate successor of Noble Drilling Corporation.
Odfjell Drilling Ltd. is an oil drilling, well service, and engineering company.
Discoverer Enterprise is a fifth generation deepwater double hulled dynamically positioned drillship owned and operated by Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc., capable of operating in moderate environments and water depths up to 3,049 m (10,000 ft) using an 18.75 in (47.6 cm), 15,000 psi blowout preventer (BOP), and a 21 in (53 cm) outside diameter (OD) marine riser. From 1998 to 2005 the vessel was Panama-flagged and currently flies the flag of convenience of the Marshall Islands.
Paul B. Loyd Jr. is an American businessman. From 1997 to 2001, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of the R&B Falcon Corporation, the world's largest offshore drilling company, until it merged with Transocean. Transocean has named a semi-submersible after him.
Protests against Arctic drilling began in Seattle in 2015 in response to the news that the Port of Seattle authority made an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to berth offshore drillships and semi-submersibles at the Port's Terminal 5 (T5) during the off-season of oil exploration in Alaskan waters of the Arctic. Hundreds of protesters took to Elliott Bay in kayaks, rafts, and other small boats, both as a demonstration and to interrupt docking of Shell's Polar Pioneer semi-submersible drilling vessel at Terminal 5. The waterborne demonstrators were dubbed kayaktivists by social and news media.
Appaloosa is an offshore oil field located in the Mississippi Canyon blocks 459, 460, 503, and 504 of the United States sector of the Gulf of Mexico. It is a part of the Greater Longhorn area. The field is developed by the Italian energy company Eni.
Kigoriak is a Russian icebreaking anchor handling tug supply vessel. Built by Saint John Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company for Canadian Marine Drilling (Canmar) in 1979 as Canmar Kigoriak, she was the first commercial icebreaking vessel developed to support offshore oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea.
