How Does An Oil Rig Work?

Edward Hanley & Xiaoping Sun

STEP 1

A survey vessel shoots high pressured water towards the sea bed, creating a small shock-wave.

The shock-wave creates different frequencies that can be read by a net of sensors the vessel trails behind.

FINDING THE OIL

The different frequencies are made through whatever materials ground, each material has a certain frequency.

STEP 2 Fixed Platform 01500 Ft

Compliant Tower 1500 3000 Ft

Sea Star Platform 500 3500ft

Each different oil rig is designed to reach oil at certain depths below sea level

Floating Production System 1500 6000 Ft

TYPES OF RIGS

Tension Leg Platform 1500 7000 Ft

Sub-Sea System 07000 FT

SAPR Platform 2000 10,000 FT

STEP 3

The rig is built on land and transported by a semi-submersible ship to the right location

MOVING THE RIG The hull of the ship sinks bellow the water level, leaving the rig floating on the water

The ship is now free to move away while the rig anchors itself to the seabed.

STEP 4

A BOP (Blowout preventer) is used to quickly close the well and cut the pipe if a blowout occurs.

A Blowout is a highpressure oil spill causing oil to spurt into the sea and air at high speeds.

1 2 3 4

BLOWOUT PREVENTER

Each segment serves a different function; 1 & 4 close the space around the pipe, 2 blocks the well when there is no pipe inserted and 3 is designed to cut the pipe and seal everything off.

STEP 5

The drilling pipe is hollow with a special drilling mud flowing down into the drill-bit.

The mud helps displace any rocks lodged in the drill and carries debris from drilling to the surface.

DRILLING FOR OIL The mud also acts to stop the well from collapsing before a concrete casing is put in to hold the well open.

STEP 6

After Drilling a pipe is placed into the well to align the walls with a concrete casing.

To drill deeper, a smaller drill is now used to continue from where the casing ends.

PUMPING THE OIL A long rubber pipe is now inserted into the complete well and down into the oil reservoir. The oil is now pumped up to the surface and stored on the rig.

Finding pockets of gas is very common but dangerous. When gas is found, it is pumped up to a flare stack or tower, where it is burnt off safely.

STEP 7

Depending on where the rig is, the oil is either pumped straight to shore along the sea bed or transported by a large oil tanker.

Oil is measured in ‘Barrels’ (BBL) 1 Barrel is equal to 42 gallons or 159 litres.

The term Barrel comes from the old whiskey barrel standard - 40 gallons.

The extra 2 gallons were added to make up for spillages during transportation.

MOVING THE OIL Venezuela has the largest oil reserve with 298.3 billion barrels of oil

The US uses on average 1.8 billion barrels of oil a day