Drilling platforms
Among all engineering creations, drilling platforms are Gullivers, in comparison with which even large ships seem like midgets. Modern structures weighing more than half a million tons, capable of drilling wells up to 10-13 km and created by human hands!
The largest platforms are recognized:
- The TROLL-A reinforced concrete industrial platform is the world’s heaviest man-made object capable of moving on the surface of our planet. The total weight of the natural gas platform is 1.2 million tons loaded with ballast, (dry weight is about 650-680,000 tons) and the height is 472 meters (of which 369 is occupied by the underwater concrete structure)
- You can’t miss the Statfjord-B drilling rig, the largest floating technical facility in the world. The tower, built in Norway in 1981, is 271 meters high, including the concrete base, and the total weight of the structure is 840,000 tons. The industrial complex can produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day, while the tanks will be enough for 2,000,000 barrels. Moreover, the platform is a real city on the water: in addition to the drilling rig, it houses a seven-story high-class hotel, a chemical laboratory, a heliport and a fleet of rescue and support equipment.
- But the deepest platform is located in the Gulf of Mexico, where it is moored at a depth of 2450 meters above the Perdido oil and gas field. The maximum capacity of the platform is 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day! The height of Perdido Spar is 267 meters, that is, this is a real underwater Eiffel Tower!
