Have you ever seen a drill rig out in the middle of the ocean and wondered what they are doing out there? Keep reading to find out.
Drilling a safe deepwater well can take years of planning and preparation. After identifying potential oil and natural gas reservoirs beneath the seafloor using seismic technology, a drill site is selected.
Well drillers choose the drill site location, based on the safest well path that will encounter the targetted oil and natural gas.
A drilling rig is required to drill a well. For deepwater wells, the drilling rig could be on a semi-submersible vessel, a drillship, or a floating production platform.
All rigs have a hoist system to raise and lower the drill pipe and tools needed to drill the well.
To keep wells from caving in because of the soft shallow sentiments, a large diameter base pipe is drilled into place. The base pipe is assembled at the rig floor and the drillbit connected to the drill pipe is run through the inside and then lowered to the seafloor by a hoist.
To learn more about how well drillers drill a deep water well, watch the video above!
.
