Mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed
An oil drilling platform off the coast of Santa Barbara, California – 6 December 2011
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.
Offshore drilling presents environmental challenges, both offshore and onshore from the produced hydrocarbons and the materials used during the drilling operation. Controversies include the ongoing US offshore drilling debate.[1]
There are many different types of facilities from which offshore drilling operations take place. These include bottom founded drilling rigs (jackup barges and swamp barges), combined drilling and production facilities either bottom founded or floating platforms, and deepwater mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) including semi-submersibles or drillships. These are capable of operating in water depths up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). In shallower waters the mobile units are anchored to the seabed; however, in water deeper than 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), the semi-submersibles and drillships are maintained at the required drilling location using dynamic positioning.
^Compton, Glenn, 10 Reasons Not to Drill for Oil Offshore of Florida, The Bradenton Times, January 14, 2018
describe drilling activities on the continental shelf, though the term can also be applied to drilling in lakes, inshore waters and inland seas. Offshore drilling...
multiple wells. Offshoredrilling presents environmental challenges, both from the produced hydrocarbons and the materials used during the drilling operation...
under the sea offshore from Louisiana, Texas, California, and Alaska. Environmental concerns have prevented or restricted offshoredrilling in some areas...
positioned, semi-submersible offshoredrilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout...
offers services for the offshore industry within offshoredrilling. In 1965, A/S Aker Drilling Company Ltd. (Dolphin Drilling) was established. In 1976...
1984), drilling and production have continued on existing leases, from existing drilling and production platforms. Nine active offshoredrilling and production...
Ends Ban On East Coast OffshoreDrilling". NPR. Retrieved 30 October 2021. VanderKlippe, Nathan (30 April 2010). "Arctic drilling faces tougher scrutiny"...
Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshoredrilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Vernier, Switzerland...
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...
gas drilling. There are more jackup rigs in the worldwide offshore rig fleet than other type of mobile offshoredrilling rig. Other types of offshore rigs...
Seadrill is an offshoredrilling contractor providing worldwide offshoredrilling services to the oil and gas industry. Its primary business is the ownership...
Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible mobile offshoredrilling unit, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil...
Offshoredrilling for oil and gas on the Atlantic coast of the United States took place from 1947 to the early 1980s. Oil companies drilled five wells...
A drilling riser is a conduit that provides a temporary extension of a subsea oil well to a surface drilling facility. Drilling risers are categorised...
On May 30, 2010 a 6-month moratorium on all deepwater offshoredrilling on the Outer Continental Shelf was declared by U.S. Secretary of the Interior...
submersible drilling rig is a marine vessel design that can be floated to location and lowered onto the sea floor for offshoredrilling activities. The...
Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drilling rig for oil extraction under the deep...
ODECO (Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company) was an offshoredrilling company. In 1992, it was acquired by Diamond OffshoreDrilling. In 1953, the company...
In addition to terrestrial oil wells, Canada also extracts oil via offshoredrilling. Newfoundland and Labrador is the third largest petroleum producer...
an offshoredrilling contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and incorporated in Bermuda. It is the largest offshoredrilling and well drilling company...
g., offshore. The process of modern drilling for wells first started in the 19th century but was made more efficient with advances to oil drilling rigs...
geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also known as drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Used while drilling oil and natural...
Guard, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and OffshoreDrilling, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, National...
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