What is the process of offshore drilling?

Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed.

How does offshore oil drilling work?

Once the offshore drilling platform is built, some method of extracting the oil and gas from beneath the ocean and moving it to the surface without losing it must be developed. To drill without water flowing into the hole or having all the oil surge up into the ocean, a subsea drilling template is used.

Why is offshore drilling bad?

Offshore Drilling Is Bad for the Environment. Oil Spills: On average, spills from platforms, pipelines, tankers, and coastal facilities release 157,000 barrels of oil every year. Toxic Pollution: Normal offshore drilling operations release toxic pollution into the air and water.

How do offshore oil rigs float?

These rigs float and can be attached to the ocean bottom using traditional mooring and anchoring systems or they maintain their position by using thrusters to counteract winds, waves and currents.

Where is offshore drilling done?

Historically, offshore drilling began by extending known coastal oil- and gas-producing trends out into the ocean. For this reason, most US offshore drilling has taken place offshore Louisiana, Texas, California, and Alaska, areas with coastal onshore oil and gas fields.

How do offshore drilling methods differ from land drilling methods?

Onshore drilling in the region has gone up over the last 20 years. It involves driving a drilling rig deep into the earth to reach fossil fuels while an offshore drilling rig drills underneath the seabed.

How deep do offshore oil rigs drill?

How deep do Offshore Rigs drill? Depending on the rig type, offshore rigs are rated to drill in water depths as shallow as 80 feet to as great as 12,000 feet. The greatest water depth a jackup can drill in is 550 feet, and many newer units have a rated drilling depth of 35,000 feet.

Why do oil companies drill in the ocean?

Drilling mud or seawater provides the pressure to hold the plug in place while the engineers place a top plug to cap the oil well. Then the well is ready for a production rig to take over. Offshore production rigs work in a similar way to land-based oil rigs.

How safe is offshore drilling?

The U.S. government has acknowledged continuous oil discharge for over a decade at the site of the platform. Worker safety is also at risk. On average, from 2007 to 2017, a fire or explosion erupted offshore every three days, and hundreds of workers were injured annually.