Offshore drilling Tampa How Offshore Drilling Works

Oil is one of the resources on Earth that we cannot get enough of. Since the industrial revolution or maybe since the beginning of the automotive industry, oil and other petroleum based products have been in high demand, and a lot of land oil rigs were already being tapped. Luckily though, we were lucky enough to find oil that was trapped deep under water that can only be accessed with a new technique for harvesting oil called offshore drilling. Tampa geotechnical drilling companies know all too well that reaching these undersea drilling sites poses quite a challenge. After all, drilling on the land is hard enough as it is.

The Origins of Offshore Drilling

petroleum companies have invested billions into research and the development of offshore drilling and offshore oil platforms. These platforms was first constructed in 1897 at the end of a wharf in California. In the years that followed, oil prospectors pushed out into the ocean, first on piers and then on artificial islands. In 1928, a Texan oilman unveiled the first mobile oil platform for drilling in wetlands. The structure was little more than a barge with a drilling outfit mounted on top, but it set the example for decades of advancements to come in offshore drilling. Tampa geotechnical drilling companies are still utilizing and improving the designs of these landmark offshore drilling inventions and technologies.

How Undersea Drilling Works

To ensure accurate drilling, engineers connect the drilling site to a platform with a subsea drilling template. While the design may vary depending on the exact ocean floor conditions, the drilling template basically resembles a large metal box with holes in it to mark the site of each production well. Since production wells often have to sink miles into the Earth’s crust, the drill itself consists mostly of multiple drill pipes screwed together, called a drill string. They’re much like tent poles in this respect. The drill bit generally consists of either a rotating bit embedded with industrial diamonds or a trio of rotating, interlocking bits with steel teeth. In the weeks or months it takes to reach the oil deposit, the bit may dull and require replacement. With offshore drilling, Tampa geotechnical drilling companies know that reading a deposit on the bottom of the ocean floor is no easy task.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*