We are making this publication for those who have always been interested in how an offshore drilling platform works and how this miracle of engineering works.
- fixed oil platform;
- offshore oil platform, freely fixed to the bottom;
- semi-submersible oil drilling platform;
- mobile offshore platform with retractable legs;
- drilling ship;
- floating oil storage (FSO) - a floating oil storage facility capable of storing oil or storing and shipping offshore;
- floating oil production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) - a floating structure capable of storing, offloading and producing oil;
- oil platform with stretched supports (floating base with tension vertical anchorage).
Types of offshore platforms:
The four main components of an oil platform: hull, drilling deck, anchor system and drilling rig allow solving the problems of exploration and production of black gold in high water conditions.
The hull is essentially a pontoon with a triangular or quadrangular base supported by huge columns. Above the hull is a drilling deck that can support hundreds of tons of drill pipes, several cranes and a full-sized helipad. A drilling rig rises above the drilling deck, the task of which is to lower / raise the drill to the seabed. At sea, the entire structure is held in place by an anchor system. Several winches pull tightly on steel mooring lines anchored to the ocean floor, holding the platform in place.
Principle of operation
The process of oil production begins with seismic exploration. At sea, seismic exploration is carried out with the help of special ships, usually with a displacement of up to 3,000 tons. Such vessels unwind seismic streamers behind them, on which hydrophones (receiving devices) are located and create acoustic waves using an oscillation source (air guns). Shock acoustic waves are reflected from the layers of the earth, and, returning to the surface, are captured by hydrophones. Thanks to such data, two-dimensional and three-dimensional seismic maps are created, which show potential reservoirs with hydrocarbons. However, no one can guarantee that he has found oil until it gushes from the well.
So, after exploration, the drilling process begins. For drilling, the team assembles the drill in sections. Each section is 28 meters high and consists of iron pipes. For example, the EVA-4000 oil platform is able to connect a maximum of 300 sections, which allows you to go deep into the earth's crust for 9.5 km. Sixty sections an hour, the drill is lowered at that rate. After drilling, the drill is removed to seal the well so that oil does not leak into the sea. To do this, blowout control equipment or a preventer is lowered to the bottom, thanks to which not a single substance will leave the well. The preventer with a height of 15 m and a weight of 27 tons is equipped with control equipment. It acts like a huge sleeve and is able to block the oil flow in 15 seconds.
When oil is found, the oil platform can move to another location to search for oil, and a floating oil production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) arrives in its place, which pumps oil from the Earth and sends it to refineries onshore.
An oil platform can be anchored for decades, regardless of any surprises of the sea. Its task is to extract oil and natural gas from the bowels of the seabed, separating the polluting elements and sending oil and gas to the shore.
> Offshore oil platform.
This is a continuation of the story about how the offshore oil platform works. The first part with a general story about the drilling rig and how oilmen live on it here.
All control of the Offshore Ice-Resistant Stationary Platform (OIRFP) takes place from the Central Control Panel (CPU):
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The entire platform is crammed with sensors, and even if a worker lights a cigarette somewhere in the wrong place, the CPA will immediately know about it and, a little later, in the personnel department, which will prepare an order to dismiss this smart guy even before the helicopter delivers him to big land:
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The upper deck is called the Trubnaya. Here candles are assembled from 2-3 drill pipes and the drilling process is controlled from here:
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The pipe deck is the only place on the rig where there is even a hint of dirt. All other places on the platform are polished to a shine.
The big gray circle on the right is a new well that this moment Buryat. It takes about 2 months to drill each well:
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I have already described the drilling process in detail in a post about how oil is produced:
8. 
Chief Driller. He has a chair on wheels with 4 monitors, a joystick and various other cool things. From this miracle chair, he controls the drilling process:
9. 
Pumps pumping mud at a pressure of 150 atmospheres. There are 2 working pumps and 1 spare on the platform (read about why they are needed and the purpose of other devices in the article on how oil is produced):
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Sharoshka is a chisel. It is she who is at the tip of the drill string:
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With the help of the drilling fluid injected by the pumps from the previous photo, these teeth are spinning, and the gnawed rock is carried up with the spent drilling fluid:
12. 
At the moment, 3 oil, 1 gas and 1 water wells are already operating on this drilling platform. Another well is being drilled.
Only one well can be drilled at a time, and there will be 27 in total. Each well is from 2.5 to 7 kilometers long (not deep). The oil reservoir lies 1300 meters underground, so that all wells are horizontal and radiate like tentacles from the drilling site:
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Well flow rate (that is, how much oil it pumps per hour) from 12 to 30 cubic meters:
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In these separator cylinders, associated gas and water are separated from oil, and at the outlet after running through an oil treatment plant, which separates all impurities from oil, commercial oil is obtained:
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An underwater pipeline 58 kilometers long was laid from the Platform to a floating oil storage facility installed outside the Caspian ice zone:
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Oil is pumped into the pipeline by main pumps:
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These compressors pump associated gas back into the reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure, which pushes oil to the surface, respectively, oil recovery becomes greater:
18. 
The water that has been separated from the oil is cleaned of mechanical impurities and returned back to the reservoir (the same water that was pumped out of the bowels)
19. 
Pumps of 160 atmospheres pump water back into the reservoir:
20. 
The platform has its own chemical laboratory, where all parameters of oil, associated gas and water are controlled:
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22. 
The drilling rig is supplied with electricity by 4 turbines powered by associated gas with a total capacity of about 20 megawatts. In white boxes, turbines of 5 megawatts each:
23. 
If the turbines are cut off for any reason, the drilling rig will be powered by backup diesel generators.
To the village of Nogliki, SE's stronghold in the north of Sakhalin, workers and personnel travel by train, in the company's private carriage. An ordinary compartment car is nothing special, though a little cleaner than usual.
Each passenger is given this lunch box:
Upon arrival in Nogliki, the supervisor meets everyone and decides what to do next - either a temporary camp, or the airport - by helicopter, or (if the weather is non-flying) by boat. We were sent straight to the airport. To fly by helicopter, it is necessary to take a Helicopter in Distress Rescue (HUET) course in advance in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In this training, you are put on special thermal suits equipped with a respiratory system and are turned upside down in the pool, in an imitation helicopter cockpit, but that's another story again...
At the airport, everyone undergoes a personal search (including dog handlers)
Pre-flight briefing describing the situation if the helicopter still crashes and putting on rescue suits.
The suits are terribly uncomfortable, but if the helicopter crashes, they can keep you afloat and keep your body warm until rescuers arrive. True, if you get out of a sinking helicopter in this suit ...
The platform is located 160-180 km from Noglik. The helicopter covers this distance in 50-60 minutes, flying all the time along the coast to minimize the risk of falling into the water, and flying along the way one more platform of the Sakhalin-2 project - "Molikpak".
After landing on the helipad, you descend to the introductory briefing room:
All! Now you are on an offshore oil platform, a piece of land in the sea, and there is nowhere to escape from this fact.
How to work here?
The PA-B platform operates around the clock and life here does not stop for a second. 12 hour day shift and 12 hour night shift.
I worked during the day, although someone says that the night is calmer and there is no daytime fuss. All this, of course, is addictive and after a couple of days you already feel like a cog in a huge mechanism, and an even better comparison is like an ant in an anthill. The worker ant woke up at 6 am, had breakfast with what the ant chef cooked, took the work order from the supervisor ant and went to work until the evening, until the shift ant came to replace ... At the same time, it's like - that unites everything.
After 3 days, I already knew almost everyone by sight ...
And I felt as if we were all part of one whole, practically relatives.
But there are 140 people working on the platform (this is exactly the number that should be on the platform and none more so that the Alpha, Betta and Gamma lifeboats can evacuate everyone. That is why we were transferred to spend the night on the ship for a couple of days). A strange feeling ... it all looked like one continuous day.
I woke up, went to the dining room, greeted the person from the night shift, for whom it was dinner, he went to bed, and in the evening we met again in the dining room, only he was already having breakfast, and I was having dinner. For him it was already a different day, but for me it's the same! And so again and again ... a vicious circle. So day after day, night after night, a week passed.
How to live here?
In principle, the platform has all the conditions for a comfortable stay and free time. All conditions are created here so that a person does not bother himself with everyday problems, but completely devotes himself to 2 occupations - work and rest.
Once you have been assigned to your cabin, you can be sure that upon arrival you will find a crib with fresh linens already made, which is changed every few days. Cabins are cleaned and vacuumed regularly. They come in 2 types: "2+2" and "2". Accordingly, for 4 people and for two.
As a rule, half of the residents work on the day shift, the rest on the night shift, so as not to interfere with each other. The decor is spartan - a minimum of furniture due to the lack of free space, but everything is very ergonomic and efficient. There is a shower with toilet next to each room.
Dirty items are washed in the laundry.
Upon check-in, you are given a mesh bag with your cabin number written on it. You put dirty linen in it, and then just bring it to the laundry and in a few hours you will find a fragrant freshness and ironed linen.
Work overalls are washed separately in special solutions - household chemicals do not wash oil and other accompanying delights.
On each floor of the residential module there is a point with free wifi(of course all social networks locked). There is also a computer class - 4 computers for general Internet access and other needs. Usually they are used by laundresses to play solitaire.
There is also a small gym (by the way, pretty good):
Billiard:
Table tennis:
Cinema hall:
(the dudes attached a playstation to the projector and cut into races at dinner) in which something from the freshly replenished DVD collection is shown in the evening.
A few words about the canteen...
She is o.f.i.g.i.g.e.n.n.a. For a week of being on the platform, I scored 3 kege.
This is because everything is very tasty, unlimited and free =)
During the week, I don’t remember that the menu was repeated, but on the day of the oilman, it’s just like a holiday of the stomach: a bunch of shrimp, scallop and Baltic “zero” is standing with batteries!
Smoking on the platform is allowed only in strictly designated areas.
Moreover, in each such room there is a built-in electric lighter, since the use of lighters and matches is prohibited.
It seems that they cannot be transported and will be confiscated at the Noglik airport. It is also forbidden to use cell phones, but except for the residential module and only as an alarm clock. And in order to photograph something outside the habitation module, you will have to write out a special outfit, go through gas permit training and take a gas analyzer with you.
As I mentioned, the first few days we lived on the support ship "Smit Sibu" due to the fact that there is a limit of people on board due to the limited number of places in lifeboats in case of an emergency evacuation.
"Smit Sibu" runs constantly from "Molikpaq" to "PA-B" in case of emergency. For reloading to the ship, the "frog" device is used:
This thing really looks like a frog - a floating cabin, with an iron base and chairs inside. Before each transplant, again, you need to put on rescue suits.
Frog is hooked by a crane and dragged to the ship. The sensations are quite sharp when you are lifted to the height of the 9th floor in an open cockpit swaying in the wind and then lowered aboard in the same way. For the first time, I could not hold back a cry of delight from this free "attraction".
Unfortunately, in the zone of 500 meters from the platform, photography is strictly prohibited - a safety zone, and I don’t have any photos from frog "but with a view of the platform. There was nothing particularly interesting on the ship - it didn’t shake much, for breakfast they fed fresh caviar, boiled eggs and macaroni and cheese, and sockets everywhere are 120 volts and flat like in Japan.There was always a feeling that you were visiting, in someone else's house.Maybe the crew created such a mood...
In the evening, the only entertainment was walking around the upper deck and watching movies.
For the first time I saw a sunset on Sakhalin from the sea, when the sun goes behind the island.
And at night they approached the Molikpak very close. Millions of seagulls were circling around, and the torch was burning at full power - the pressure was probably being released. I was able to click on the platform piece from the porthole:
Well, in the morning again I had to put on rescue suits, climb into the "frog" and back to the platform.
One of the last days, I managed to get permission to take photos on the helipad
And on the upper deck. Flare system with pilot burner:
Many people ask why so much associated gas is burned through the flare, because it can be used for various purposes! First, not a lot, but a small part. And secondly, do you know why? So that in the event of an emergency, it would be possible to safely relieve gas pressure through the flare system, burn it and avoid an explosion.
And this is a drilling module. It is from it that the drilling process is carried out, you see how hefty!
Helicopter picking up personnel coming in for landing:
There is a planned loading of passengers flying to Nogliki:
The way back home seemed much faster and shorter. Everything was exactly the same, only in reverse order. Helicopter-train-Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk...
In order to begin the development of the Arctic reserves, marine oil platforms. Until recently, floating drilling rigs were mainly purchased or leased from abroad. In the current geopolitical climate, even this becomes impractical, so it is important to speed up the process of creating centers for the construction of such facilities as soon as possible.
Offshore oil platforms in Russia
During the "dashing nineties" and the first half of the "stable zero" demand for products such as a floating oil platform, by and large, was absent. For example, the construction of the jack-up installation (SPBK) "Arctic", which was laid down in 1995 and was supposed to be commissioned in 1998, was completed only at the beginning of this decade. Such a significant project was simply no longer funded. What can we say about smaller undertakings.
Only the need to start developing the reserves of the Arctic as soon as possible made the government seriously think about the state of affairs in the industry. Rental of imported equipment today costs hundreds of thousands of dollars every day. With the current state of the ruble exchange rate, the costs are unaffordable, and a very likely deterioration in relations with the West may deprive domestic companies of even this equipment.
In addition, it is far from a fact that an oil platform capable of operating in permafrost conditions is generally produced today in the world. Indeed, in addition to extremely low temperatures, the equipment will need to withstand the most powerful seismic vibrations, storms and ice attacks. The most reliable facilities are needed, and it is better that they be fully equipped with domestic equipment.
What makes it difficult to build an oil platform in the Russian Federation
To date, the maximum that Russian plants have managed to achieve is the creation of the base of the oil platform and the self-assembly of the remaining elements from foreign components. Residential modules, drilling complexes, offloading devices, power systems and other large-sized items have to be purchased abroad.
The underdeveloped transport infrastructure is also a significant problem. Delivery of building materials and equipment to production sites in the Arctic and on, where the main projects are planned, will require significant costs. More or less normal access so far is only to the Azov, Baltic and Caspian Seas.
Successes of Russian manufacturers
Nevertheless, in this industry, dependence on the West cannot be called critical. The most significant of the domestic projects, of course, has become, in the process of creating which we saw that the structures of the industrial, resource and scientific and technical communities are able to effectively coordinate and solve the tasks assigned to them with sufficient support from the state.
This facility has successfully survived three winters without any emergency and is already mining and loading. Other achievements of Russian engineers include offshore oil platforms "Berkut" and "Orlan", put into operation relatively recently. They are distinguished by their ability to withstand the lowest temperatures and severe seismic vibrations, as well as minimal sensitivity to giant ice floes and waves.
As for future projects, it is worth mentioning the joint undertaking and factories of the Kaliningrad region. The oilmen are planning to install five drilling rigs in the local sea at once, tens of kilometers away from the coast. The preliminary volume of investments should be about 140 billion rubles. The equipment will be created at the Kaliningrad machine-building plants. If there are no force majeure, production should begin as early as 2017.
conclusions
The development and manufacture of a modern oil platform is a process that is quite comparable in complexity to space projects. In Soviet times, almost 100% of components for drilling rigs were made at domestic enterprises. With the collapse of the Union, some of them ended up abroad, and some of them completely ceased to exist. Much needs to be restored. Russian factories have the necessary potential, but it will be possible to realize it only with the support of the state.
If the government really expects to create a full production cycle in the country, and does not continue to consider home assembly of foreign components as such, serious integrated solutions and financial injections will be required. Until this happens, corporations will continue to use mostly imported equipment, and Russia will retain the slightly prestigious title of a raw materials appendage of the West.
Types of offshore oil platforms
The stabilization of modern oil platforms in a given place is currently ensured not only by piles and anchors, but also by the use of advanced positioning technologies. The platform can remain moored at the same point for several years, during which time it must withstand changing sea conditions.
The work of the drill, which performs the destruction of bottom rocks, is controlled by special underwater robots. The drill is assembled from individual steel pipe sections, each of which is 28 meters long. Modern drills have a wide range of their capabilities. For example, the drill used on the EVA-4000 platform can consist of three hundred pipe sections, which allows drilling to a depth of up to 9.5 kilometers.
The construction of the drilling platform consists in the delivery to the site of the proposed production and subsequent flooding of the base of the floating structure. On this kind of “foundation”, the rest of the necessary components are then built on.
Initially, such platforms were made by welding lattice towers, shaped like a truncated pyramid, from metal pipes and profiles, which were then firmly nailed to the sea or ocean floor with piles. Subsequently, the necessary drilling or production equipment was installed on such structures.
When it became necessary to develop deposits located in northern latitudes, ice-resistant platforms were required. This led to the fact that engineers developed projects for the construction of coffered foundations, which in fact are artificial islands. Such a caisson itself is filled with ballast, which, as a rule, is sand. Such a base is pressed to the bottom of the sea under the influence of its own weight, which is affected by gravitational forces.
However, over time, the size of offshore floating structures began to increase, which made it necessary to reconsider the features of their designs. For this reason, the developers American company Kerr-McGee has created a project for a floating object in the form of a navigation milestone. The structure itself is a cylinder, the lower part of which is filled with ballast.
The bottom of this cylinder is fastened by day with the help of special bottom anchors. Such a technical solution made it possible to build quite reliable platforms of truly gigantic dimensions, which are used for the extraction of oil and gas raw materials at ultra-great depths.
In fairness, it should be said that there are no fundamental differences between the process of extracting hydrocarbon raw materials and their subsequent shipment between offshore and onshore production wells.
For example, the main elements of a fixed offshore platform are the same as those of an onshore fishery.
The main feature of the offshore drilling rig is, first of all, the autonomy of its operation.
To achieve such autonomy, offshore drilling rigs are equipped with very powerful electric generators, as well as seawater desalination plants. Stocks on offshore platforms are replenished with the help of service vessels.
Also, the use of sea transport is necessary for the delivery of the entire structure to the mining site, in the case of rescue and firefighting measures. Transportation of raw materials extracted from the seabed is carried out through bottom pipelines, as well as with the help of a tanker fleet or through floating oil storage facilities.
Modern technologies, if the production site is located near the coast, provide for the drilling of directional wells.
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If necessary, this technological process provides for the use of advanced developments that allow remote control of drilling processes, which ensures high accuracy of the work performed. Such systems provide the operator with the ability to issue commands to drilling equipment even from a distance of several kilometers.
The depths of production on the sea shelf, as a rule, are within two hundred meters, in some cases reaching a value of half a kilometer. The use of a particular drilling technology directly depends on the depth of the productive layer and the remoteness of the production site from the coast.
In areas of shallow water, as a rule, reinforced foundations are erected, which are artificial islands, on which drilling equipment is subsequently mounted. In some cases, in shallow water, technology is used that involves fencing the mining site with a system of dams, which makes it possible to obtain a fenced excavation from which water can then be pumped out.
In cases where there is a hundred or more kilometers from the development site to the coast, it is already impossible to do without the use of a floating oil platform. Stationary platforms are the simplest in their design, but they can only be used at a mining depth of several tens of meters, since in such shallow water it is possible to fix a stationary structure using piles or concrete blocks.
Starting from depths of about 80 meters, the use of floating platforms equipped with supports. In areas with great depths (up to 200 meters), fixing the platform is already becoming problematic, therefore, in such cases, semi-submersible drilling rigs are used.
In place, such platforms are held by anchor systems and positioning systems, which are a whole complex of underwater engines and anchors. Drilling at ultra-great depths is carried out with the help of specialized drilling vessels.
When arranging offshore wells, both single and cluster methods are used. AT last years began to practice the use of the so-called mobile drilling bases. The process of offshore drilling itself is carried out with the help of risers, which are large-diameter pipe columns lowered to the very bottom.
After the drilling process is completed, a multi-ton preventer is placed on the bottom, which is an anti-blowout system, as well as wellhead fittings. All this makes it possible to prevent leakage of extracted raw materials from a drilled well into open waters. In addition, it is mandatory to install and start up control and measuring equipment that monitors the current state of the well. The lifting of oil to the surface is carried out using a system of flexible hoses.
As it becomes clear, the complexity and high level of manufacturability of the processes for the development of offshore fields are obvious (even without going into the technical details of such processes). In this regard, the question arises: “Is such a complex and costly oil production worthwhile?” Definitely yes. Here, the main factors that speak in its favor are the ever-growing demand for petroleum products with the gradual depletion of onshore deposits. All this outweighs the cost and complexity of such mining, since raw materials are in demand and pay off the costs of their extraction.
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Some interesting facts about offshore oil production
The largest oil platform in the world is located in the North Sea, the Norwegian platform called "Troll-A". Its height is 472 meters, and the total weight is 656 thousand tons.
In the United States, the start date of American offshore oil production is considered to be 1896, and its founder is a Californian oilman named Williams, who already in those years drilled wells using the embankment he built with his own hands.
In 1949, at a distance of 42 kilometers from the Absheron Peninsula, on metal racks that were erected for oil production from the bottom of the Caspian Sea, a whole village was built, which was called "Oil Rocks". In this village, people serving the work of fishing lived for several weeks. This overpass (Oil Rocks) even appeared in one of the Bond films, which was called "And the whole world is not enough."
With the advent of floating drilling platforms, it became necessary to maintain their underwater equipment. In this regard, deep-sea diving equipment began to actively develop.
For fast sealing oil well in case of emergencies (for example, if a storm rages so strong that the drilling ship cannot be kept in place), a preventer is used, which is a kind of plug. The length of such a "cork" can reach up to 18 meters, and such a preventer can weigh up to 150 tons.
The main motive for the development of offshore oil production was the global oil crisis of the 70s of the last century, provoked by the embargo imposed by the OPEC countries on the supply of black gold to Western countries. Such restrictions forced American and European oil companies to look for alternative sources of petroleum feedstock. In addition, the development of the shelf began to be more active with the advent of new technologies, which already at that time made it possible to carry out offshore drilling at great depths.
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