JACK UP RIG

For smaller, shallower offshore oil deposits that don't warrant a permanent platform, or for drilling exploratory wells, oil companies may use what's called a "jack-up rig." The rig's floating platform is towed into position by barges, then lowers its support legs down to the sea floor, raising the rig above the water's surface. The platform can then be adjusted to varying heights along its tall legs, essentially using the same principle employed by a tire jack (hence the name). Jack-up rigs were traditionally used in shallow water because it wasn't practical to lower their legs to great depths, but newer models such as the Tarzan-class rigs are now stretching those limits. They're also considered safer than some other types of moveable rigs, such as drilling barges, since their surface facilities are elevated from the water and less susceptible to waves and weather.

Types of Jack up Drilling Rigs These platforms can be of two types: Open-Truss: This type of platform is advantageous because it offers a lot of stability to the jack-up system. Open-Truss platforms are designed in a pattern that is criss-crossed which ensures the stability aspect of the oil rig mentioned in the previous point. Columnar Platforms: Unlike the previous variety of jack up platform, the columnar platforms are constructed in a columnar or rectangular form. This reduces the effective weight-bracing facility of these platforms making them a problem in case strong wind conditions affect the water in which the oil rig stands. A jack-up system is highly unique facility. This rarity along with the supreme utility is what has enabled the jack up drilling rigs to be a part of the oil drilling operation for over six decades. It is also this uniqueness that will enable the jack up rig to be a major part of the oil drilling industry in the future, for years and years to come.

Compliant tower

Compliant-tower rigs are similar to fixed platforms, since both are anchored to the seabed and hold most of their equipment above the surface. But compliant towers are taller and narrower, and unlike fixed platforms, they sway with the wind and water almost as if they were floating. This is possible because their jackets are broken into two or more sections, with the lower part serving as the base for the upper jacket and surface facilities. This lets compliant towers operate at greater depths than platform rigs, potentially up to 3,000 feet below the surface.

Fixed platform

Anchored directly into the seabed, fixed-platform rigs consist of a tall, steel structure known as a "jacket" that rises up from the ocean to support a surface deck. The jacket provides the rig's sturdy base and holds everything else out of the water, while the drilling modules and crew quarters are located on the surface deck. Fixed platforms offer stability but no mobility, and today they're primarily used to tap moderately shallow, long-term oil deposits. They can drill to depths of about 1,500 feet below the surface, but are expensive to build, so they usually require a large oil discovery to justify their construction.

Floating production system

As oil companies expand into ever-deeper waters, they've had to embrace less traditional methods of getting oil up to the surface. This often means deepwater rigs are buoyant and semisubmersible, floating partly above the surface while pumping up oil from deep wells. Some use wire and rope to connect with a stabilizing anchor, while others including the now-sunken Deepwater Horizon, pictured at right in June 2009 are "dynamically positioned," using computer-coordinated thrusters to keep them in place. These floating production systems are used in water depths from 600 to 6,000 feet, and are among the most common types of offshore rigs found in the Gulf of Mexico. Since their wellheads are located on the sea floor rather than a surface platform, as on fixed-platform rigs, extra care must be taken to avoid leaks. A machine on deepwater wellheads known as a "blowout preventer" is supposed to prevent oil from escaping, but the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer failed after the rig sank, letting crude rush out of the well.

Tension-leg platform

Another rig capable of drilling deeper than a mile is the tension-leg platform, which consists of a floating surface structure held in place by taut, vertical tendons connected to the sea floor. And for drilling smaller deposits in narrower areas, an oil company may instead use a miniature version known as a "Seastar," which allows for relatively low-cost production of small deepwater oil reserves that would otherwise be uneconomical to drill. Seastar rigs can drill to depths ranging from 600 to 3,500 feet, and are also sometimes used as satellite or early-production platforms for large deepwater discoveries.

Subsea system

Floating production systems, drillships and even some pre-existing platform rigs use subsea wellheads to extract oil directly at the seabed, siphoning the crude up through risers or pipes to the surface. A subsea drilling system includes a deepwater production module that rests on the sea floor ,as well as any transportation lines that channel the oil to surface facilities. Those facilities may be aboard a nearby platform rig, a ship floating overhead, a centralized production hub or even a faraway onshore site, which makes subsea oil rigs versatile as well as nimble, offering oil companies several options for tapping otherwise hard-toreach deposits. But as the Deepwater Horizon spill has shown, the inaccessibility of such deep oil wells also makes it difficult to fix leaks.

Spar platform

Named after the tall, vertical "spar" (aka mast) of a sailing ship, sparplatform rigs use a single, wide-diameter cylinder to support a surface deck from the sea floor. A typical spar platform in the Gulf of Mexico has a 130-foot-wide cylinder, and about 90 percent of its overall structure is hidden underwater. Spar cylinders are available at depths up to 3,000 feet, but existing technology can extend this to about 10,000 feet, making them one of the deepest-drilling types of offshore rigs in use.

Semisubmersible rig
If drilling from a bottom supported unit is not possible, the semisubmersible is the most popular floating unit. The semisubmersible rig is a more costly option than jackup rigs. The semisubmersible is a column stabilized vessel, because of the deep draft of its columns, wave energy is dampen, minimizing roll, pitch, yaw, surge, sway and heave. It is common to subdivide semisubmersibles rigs into generations. Generations 4 and 5 are the deeper water rigs, with generation 4 being able to drill in 3500 to 4,000 ft and generation 5 being able to drill in 5000 ft plus depths. Rig that drill in these deep waters, must be considerably more sophisticated. The variable deck load (VDL) must be higher. Deep water semisubmersible use of large motors to position the rig over the well (dynamic positioning) can drill in deeper waters. Generation 1, 2 and 3 use mooring systems and operate in waters less than 3500 ft. In evaluating any floating vessel for drilling, computer programs are available to calculate vessel motions by entering in the wave heights and periods. The result will be a motion history of that particular rig for a specific drilling period.

Drillships

The drillship were popular in the late 1950's to the late 1960's. They could be mobilized quickly. However, the semisubmersible was far more a stable drilling platform. The long narrow hull of the drillship results in motion in all six degrees of freedom (can you name them?), particularly pitch, roll and heave. Mooring systems and dynamic positioning systems have greatly improved the drillship's capability of drilling in harsh environments.

Rigs selection based on Depth Criteria

Jackup: From approximately 20 to 30 ft minimum depth to 350 to 550 ft maximum depth The maximum depth is a function of other environmental variables, such as wind, waves, and current conditions at the site. Severe conditions tend to lower the jackup rig's maximum water depth capacity. Semisubmersible: Approximately 150 to 8000 ft using dynamically mooring system. Until 1978, the maximum depth was 2,200 ft using conventional mooring system.

Drillship: Approximately 100 to at least 8000 ft with today's technology. Maximum water depth limits occur because of riser system limitations.