This article is about onshore equipment for boring holes into the ground. For offshore oil rig, see Oil platform. For drilling tunnels, see Tunnel boring machine. For handheld drilling tool, see Drill.
Drilling the Bakken Formation in the Williston BasinLarge hole drilling rig for blast-hole drilling
A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill water wells, oil wells, or natural gas extraction wells, or they can be small enough to be moved manually by one person and such are called augers. Drilling rigs can sample subsurface mineral deposits, test rock, soil and groundwater physical properties, and also can be used to install sub-surface fabrications, such as underground utilities, instrumentation, tunnels or wells. Drilling rigs can be mobile equipment mounted on trucks, tracks or trailers, or more permanent land or marine-based structures (such as oil platforms, commonly called 'offshore oil rigs' even if they don't contain a drilling rig). The term "rig" therefore generally refers to the complex equipment that is used to penetrate the surface of the Earth's crust.
Small to medium-sized drilling rigs are mobile, such as those used in mineral exploration drilling, blast-hole, water wells and environmental investigations. Larger rigs are capable of drilling through thousands of metres of the Earth's crust, using large "mud pumps" to circulate drilling fluid (slurry) through the drill bit and up the casing annulus, for cooling and removing the "cuttings" while a well is drilled. Hoists in the rig, a derrick, can lift hundreds of tons of pipe. Other equipment can force acid or sand into reservoirs to facilitate extraction of the oil or natural gas; and in remote locations there can be permanent living accommodation and catering for crews (which may be more than a hundred). Marine rigs may operate thousands of miles distant from the supply base with infrequent crew rotation or cycle.
A drillingrig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's...
positioned, semi-submersible offshore drillingrig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout...
take place. These include bottom-founded drillingrigs (jackup barges and swamp barges), combined drilling and production facilities, either bottom-founded...
Drilling Unit (MODU) is generally used for all offshore drillingrigs that can be moved from location to location. The first offshore mobile drilling...
onshore drillingrig. Offshore drillingrigs have similar elements, but are configured with a number of different drilling systems to suit drilling in the...
existence. The total number of jackup drillingrigs in operation numbered about 540 at the end of 2013. The tallest jackup rig built to date is the Noble Lloyd...
An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: Drillingrig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling Drillship...
Oil Well in Qatar. Drilling began on 24 May 1970 using the Uralmash-4E, a serial drillingrig used for drilling oil wells. The rig was slightly modified...
semi-submersible, column-stabilised drillingrig operated by Dolphin Drilling, a Fred Olsen Energy subsidiary. It drilled seasonally for various companies...
Precision Drilling Corporation is the largest drillingrig contractor in Canada, also providing oil field rental and supplies. Precision Drilling Ltd. was...
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...
exploration drillingrigs, drilling fluids are also used for much simpler boreholes, such as water wells. The two main categories of drilling fluids are...
Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Vernier, Switzerland...
Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drillingrig for oil extraction under the deep...
Maersk Drilling, also known as The Drilling Company of 1972 A/S, was the drilling-rig operator of Maersk. It was based in Lyngby, Denmark. Established...
oil drilling industry, with roughneck used for those who worked on the floor of a drillingrig handling specialised drilling equipment for drilling and...
process of modern drilling for wells first started in the 19th century but was made more efficient with advances to oil drillingrigs and technology during...
natural diamonds in drill bits. Exploration diamond drilling differs from other geological drilling (such as Reverse Circulation (RC) Drilling) in that a solid...
10-year-old semi-submersible, mobile, floating, dynamically positioned drillingrig that could operate in waters up to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) deep. Built by...
atop the derrick on a drillingrig. Though the exact duties vary from rig to rig, they almost always report directly to the driller. Their job is to guide...
natural resources such as gas or oil. During such drilling, data is acquired from the drillingrig sensors for a range of purposes such as: decision-support...
Directional drilling (or slant drilling) is the practice of drilling non-vertical bores. It can be broken down into four main groups: oilfield directional...
14-inch (36 cm) drill assembly had become stuck at 1,228 feet (374 m) two-and-a-half hours before the drillingrig began to tilt. The drill assembly punctured...
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