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Season Six Research Files
Episode Twenty-three
4:00am - 5:00am
A gas and oil platform (GOPLAT) is a large structure placed in the open waters on the continental shelf and is used to drill for oil or natural gas at the bottom of the sea. The platform may be attached to the sea floor (stationary, like an artificial island) or it might be movable.
Some GOPLATS have concrete legs that sit on the sea bed and others have metal legs that allow them to be jacked up to sea level. Floating rigs are used to drill test holes, and they are held in place by anchor chains or computer-controlled propellers.
The derrick is the focal point of the platform. This metal tower supports a very long drilling pipe at the end of which is a drill bit, the tricone. This drill pipe becomes longer as the tricone grinds through the different layers of the substratum rocks to reach the oil field beneath the water.
A GOPLAT is like a small village. The people live and work on the platform. They usually have helidecks for helicopters to land when transporting the workers.
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