• An oil platform or oil rig is a large structure used to house
workers and machinery needed to drill and/or extract oil and
natural gas through wells in the ocean bed.
• Depending on the circumstances, the platform may be attached
to the ocean floor, consist of an artificial island, or be floating.
• Generally, oil platforms are located on the continental shelf,
though as technology improves, drilling and production in
deeper waters becomes both feasible and profitable.
• A typical platform may have around thirty wellheads located on
the platform and directional drilling allows reservoirs to be
accessed at both different depths and at remote positions up to
5 miles (8 kilometres) from the platform.
• Many platforms also have remote wellheads attached by
umbilical connections, these may be single wells or a manifold
centre for multiple wells.