Offshore Oil Rigs And The Technology Behind Drilling For Oil In The Sea

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As global demand for oil products continues to increase and land-based oil reserves have been explored, a growing number of oil companies are opting for offshore oil rigs as a way to increase global supplies. A large number of active oil platforms have been developed to extract oil that can be found in the bed of the ocean.

Continental shifts created a wide range of undersea oil reserves which can be difficult to reach, and more advanced oil platform technologies make it possible to extract undersea oil reserves at lower prices than ever before. As a result, oil companies are increasing offshore oil rigs based upon improved methods for extracting difficult to reach sea-based oil reserves. New technologies have created a growing number of oil rig types which are designed for specialized purposes.

The most common offshore oil platform is a fixed rig which is a concrete and steel based platform anchored to a particular area on the ocean. For important, lasting discoveries fixed offshore platforms allow for increased production capacity at depths up to 500 meters. These are the most stable platforms, although they can be damaged by hurricanes and other natural disasters, impacting production of important offshore oil pipelines. For deeper platforms, submersible structures are portable and capable of exploring at much greater depths. For exploratory drilling, these platforms are a reliable source of new exploration.

Some of the largest operational oil platforms are in the Gulf of Mexico, and many were damaged in the wake of previous hurricane seasons. Disruption of offshore oil supplies from the Gulf greatly impacts domestic oil prices, as evidenced by the sharp increase in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which impaired a wide variety of platforms at the time. One of the largest platforms in the region covers over 600 meters and provides a steady supply of crude oil to a variety of refineries off the Gulf coast. Storage tanks in the region exceed over 1 million tons, providing an important pipeline for domestic oil production.

About the Author:
At Oilprice.Com we specialize in providing free commodity quotes you can publish on your own sites. We have detailed information sections on Oil rigs and Offshore oil rigs. There is also analysis on other commodities, the finance sector and geopolitics.



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