Oil Rigs

Offshore oil rigs have been around since the 1890s, and today a variety of structures harvest both oil and natural gas from the world's continental shelves. There are two basic types of oil rig, or platform:

Fixed. The Hibernia platform, off St. John's, Newfoundland, is the largest oil rig in the world. It is an example of a fixed platform which, as the name suggests, is permanently attached to the ocean floor. Fixed platforms can be built in nearly 2,000 feet of water, but a type of fixed platform called a compliant tower can operate in 3,000 feet of water. The Petronius Platform, in the Gulf of Mexico, stands 2,000 feet above the ocean floor, making it one of the tallest structures in the world. Fixed platforms also include include jack-up rigs (a misnomer, since the legs are actually jacked down to the sea bottom).

Floating. Semi-submersible platforms or MODUs (mobile offshore drilling units) like the Thunderhawk rig pictured above (here being towed into Aransas Pass last spring. Thanks to Jeanie and Gary Hartman for the photo) are the most common floating type of oil rig. They are generally towed into position by tugboats and anchored in a specific spot for a time. Rigs like this will also have their own small azipod propellers that hold position, but aren't strong enough to move the rig long distances. This isn't the case for a drillship, which is just what it sounds like: a ship that drills for oil. Using dynamic positioning, a way to hold the vessel in place using a souped-up GPS which directly controls the ships engines and thrusters, these ships can drill in waters up to 12,000 feet deep.

Whatever the type, most rigs will have several (sometimes dozens) or "wellheads" from pipelines and drills at various depths and up to five miles from the rig itself.

Oil Rig Crew. Oil rig crews have their own colorful jargon for themselves. A roustabout is an unskilled laborer on an oil rig. If you stick around and become semi-skilled, you can become a roughneck. A tool pusher is a department head, or even the person in charge of the whole operation. A mud man, or mud engineer, is in charge of the liquid mud used in drilling operations to cool, lubricate, and otherwise control production. Other jobs include derrickhands, drillers, and a variety of positions necessary to the operation of the rig itself.

Find more about the specifics of oil drilling at the How Stuff Works website.

The US government's Minerals Management Service has a bizarre, basic, but informative twist on the "Take Your Daughter To Work Day" craze with Stacey Visits An Oil Rig.

For a hilarious and occasionally terrifying look at life on a oil rig, see Paul Carters book Don't Tell Mom I Work On The Rigs: She Thinks I'm A Piano Player In A Whorehouse.