The World’s 6 Largest Oil Rigs

When asked to name the tallest structures in the world, you would expect that your list would include things like the Tokyo Sky Tree and the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai.  But have you ever thought about oil rigs?

These enormous offshore platforms house thousands of oil rig workers all over the world – from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea.  They come in various sizes and shapes: some rigs are anchored and then float upon the surface of the water while others are fixed to the floor of the ocean.  There are ten different kinds of oil rigs in total – with each one being an amazing structure.

In terms of size, there are some oil rigs that are more impressive than others.  The following is a tour of six of the largest oil rigs in the world.

  1. Berkut

This rig weighs 200,000 tons and is located off of Russia’s Pacific coast.  Although there are other rigs that are bigger under the surface, Berkut can lay claim to having the world’s largest upper part.  Berkut, which translates to ‘Golden Eagle,’ has been constructed to be able to withstand subarctic conditions: this include temperatures to minus 44 degree celsius and 60 foot waves.  December 2014 was the target date for oil to start being extracted. This piece by Fircroft goes in depth into it to a far greater degree.

  1. Perdido

Perdido is located in the Gulf of Mexico and operated by Shell.  At 2.45 metres, it is the deepest oil rig in the world.  It features a floating spar platform, which means it stands on a weighted, long column for stability purposes.

  1. Petronius

The Petronius oil platform, like the Perdido, is situated in the Gulf of Mexico.  It is one of the tallest free-standing structures in the whole world at 2,001 feet.  However, just looking at Petronius doesn’t really show its true scale: only 75 metres of it protrudes from the surface of the water.

  1. Hibernia

The gigantic Hibernia oil rig, with its capacity for holding 1.2 million barrels of crude oil, is located in the North Atlantic east of the Canadian coast.  During the peak time of its construction, there were 5,800 individuals employed.  In November 1997 Hibernia became operational.

  1. Olympus

Olympus, which is also called Mars B, is owned by Shell.  It is the corporation’s largest deep-water floating platform.  The hull was constructed in South Korea, and in February 2014 became operational.

  1. Baldplate  

Baldplate is situated off of Louisiana’s coast and was the very first offshore free-standing compliant tower.  The Houston-based firm of Hudson Engineer designed Baldplate. and stands in 1,650 feet of water.  In 1999 it reached its production peak.

There are millions of various commercial oil wells spread across the world these days, with each one generating massive amounts of money.  But how did this worldwide phenomenon get started?  In order to shed some light on oil’s history, we have searched world records to compile a list of what some claim are the first oil wells in the world.