Marine Drilling Tampa What Are the Uses for and Challenges of Marine Drilling?
Tampa developers, environmental experts or companies involved in extracting natural resources such as oil and natural gas, may turn to a geotechnical drilling firm like Amdrill, Inc. for help, as one of our many specialties is marine drilling. Tampa Bay marine drilling projects may entail several different challenges so for this reason, it’s important to have an experienced team of technicians overseeing the drilling efforts.
What is Marine Drilling?
Tampa natives may turn to an environmental drilling firm like Amdrill Inc. for help with a marine drilling project, which is the term for any drilling project that involves a marine environment, whether it’s an ocean, a bay, a river, a lake, a pond or wetlands.
Marine drilling can be utilized for several different projects, including:
- Determining the composition and integrity of the seabed
- Sampling the sediment and the bedrock that lies beneath
- Evaluating the environment for the presence and prevalence of contaminants
- Drilling wells for gas companies, oil companies or energy companies
- Drilling bore holes and monitoring wells
- Evaluating the depth and extent of water saturation in a location
- Evaluating the depth and integrity of the bedrock
- Drilling holes for anchors for a larger structure such as a wind turbine, dock, bridge or another construction project.
These are just some of the many Tampa marine drilling projects that Amdrill, Inc. has performed. Of course, marine drilling is associated with lots of challenges. One challenge involves the very act of drilling underwater or in a wetlands environment. This requires the usage of a boat, barge or amphibious vehicle. Wetlands and shallows can be quite challenging in cases when you require a large, heavy drill for the project, as large drills require a large boat, barge or amphibious vehicle, but this can create challenges since you risk “bottoming out” and experiencing other challenges maneuvering the appropriate equipment into position.
Wetlands and marine environments also feature delicate ecosystems; many wetlands are even considered “protected” environments. So, it’s important that you work with a company that can take measures to prevent and limit any damage to the surrounding environment. This can create some additional obstacles in a marine drilling project. In areas, adjacent to a marine or wetlands environment, your drilling team will need to ensure that lubricants, drill cuttings and vehicles do not cause any damage.
Accessibility and environmental concerns aside, you also have challenges associated with the dynamic nature of a water environment, with changing tides and water depths, which can complicate the drilling project. Simply keeping the drilling rig in a stationary position can be tremendously challenging amidst the waves and tides. So, you need a company that has the right vehicles and the right technicians who know how to ensure that the drilling effort goes as planned. We have also encountered issues when drilling at depths, as the pressures found in deep water environments can have some unique impacts on the drilling equipment.
For these reasons, it’s vital to trust your project to an experienced Tampa marine drilling company like Amdrill, Inc.
*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*
