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Generally, oil platforms are located on the Continental Shelf , though as technology improves, drilling and production in deeper waters becomes both feasible and profitable. A typical platform may have around thirty wellheads located on the platform and Directional Drilling allows reservoirs to be accessed at both different depths and at remote positions up to 5 Mile s (8 Kilometre s) from the platform. is the world's largest ''oil platform''.]] Many platforms also have remote wellheads attached by Umbilical connections, these may be single wells or a manifold centre for multiple wells. PLATFORM TYPES Larger lake and sea-based oil platforms and Oil Rig s are some of the largest moveable man-made structures in the world. There are several distinct types of platforms and rigs:
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MAINTENANCE AND SUPPLY A typical oil production platform is self-sufficient in energy and water needs, housing electrical generation, water desalinators and all of the equipment necessary to process oil and gas such that it can be either delivered directly onshore by pipeline or to a Floating Storage Unit and/or tanker loading facility. Elements in the oil/gas production process include Wellhead , Production Manifold , Production Separator , Glycol process to dry gas, Gas Compressor s, Water Injection Pump s, Oil/gas Export Metering and Main Oil Line pumps. All production facilities are designed to have minimal environmental impact. Larger platforms are assisted by smaller ESVs (emergency support vessels) like the British Iolair that are summoned when something has gone wrong, ''e.g.'' when a Search And Rescue operation is required. During normal operations, PSVs (platform supply vessels) keep the platforms provisioned and supplied, and AHTS Vessels can also supply them, as well as tow them to location and serve as standby rescue and firefighting vessels. RISKS The nature of their operation — extraction of volatile substances sometimes under extreme pressure in a hostile environment — has risk and not infrequent accidents and tragedies occur. In July 1988 , 167 people died when Occidental Petroleum 's Alpha offshore production platform, on the Piper field in the North Sea , exploded after a gas leak. The accident greatly accelerated the practice of housing living accommodation on self-contained separate rigs, away from those used for extraction. However, this was, in itself, a hazardous environment. In March 1980 , the 'flotel' (floating hotel) platform Alexander L Keilland capsized in a storm in the North Sea with the loss of 123 lives. Further risks are the leaching of Heavy Metals that accumulate in buoyancy tanks into water; and risks associated with their disposal. There has been concern expressed at the practice of partially demolishing offshore rigs to the point that ships can traverse across their site; there have been instances of Fishery vessels snagging nets on the remaining structures. Proposals for the disposal at sea of the Brent Spar , a 137-metre (449 ft) tall storage buoy (another true function of that which is termed an oil rig), was for a time in 1996 an environmental '' Cause Célèbre '' in the UK after Greenpeace occupied the floating structure. The event led to a reconsideration of disposal policy in the UK and Europe, though Greenpeace, in hindsight, admitted some inaccuracies leading to hyperbole in their statements about Brent Spar. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS In British waters, the cost of removing all platform rig structures entirely was estimated in 1995 at £ 1.5 billion, and the cost of removing all structures including pipelines — a so-called "clean sea" approach — at £3 billion. In the United States, Marine Biologist Milton Love has proposed that oil platforms off the California coast be retained as artificial reefs, instead of being dismantled (at great cost), because he has found them to be havens for many of the species of fish which are otherwise declining in the region, in the course of 11 years of research. Love is funded by mainly by government agencies, but also in small part by the California Artificial Reef Enhancement Program . NOAA has said it is considering this course of action, but wants money to study the effects of the rigs in detail. In the Gulf Of Mexico , more than 200 platforms have been similarly converted. LARGE PLATFORMS The Petronius Platform is an oil and gas platform in the Gulf Of Mexico , which stands 2,000 Feet (610 Metre s) above the ocean floor. This structure is partially supported by buoyancy. Depending on the criteria it may be the World's Tallest Structure . The Hibernia platform is an oil and gas platform in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland . The gravity base structure sits on the ocean floor in 200 m (660 ft) of water with its topsides extending 50 m (160 ft) above the surface. The platform acts as a small concrete island with serrated outer edges designed to withstand the impact of an Iceberg . The GBS contains production storage tanks and the remainder of the void space is filled with ballast with the entire structure weighing in at 1.2 million Ton s. HISTORY The first oil platform in the world is the Oil Rocks (Neft Daşları), built near Baku in Azerbaijan . This platform was built in 1947 as an exercise of Soviet and Azeri ambition. The Oil Rocks lies 45–50 km (about 25 Nautical Mile s) offshore on the Caspian Sea . The most unique feature of the Oil Rocks is that it is actually a functional city with a population of about 5000. The Oil Rocks is a city on the sea, with over 200 km of streets built on piles of dirt and landfill. Most of the inhabitants work on shifts; a week on Oil Rocks followed by a week on the shore. The small city includes shops, school, library, etc. After almost 60 years the Oil Rocks is still quite unique as the world's first and largest oil platform. SEE ALSO
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