Welcome back to the Fluctus Canal for a feature on the Oil and Gas Offshore Platform; construction, operation, danger and how thousands of towers host marine life

An oil platform, offshore platform or offshore drilling rig is a large structure with well drilling facilities to explore, extract, store and process oil and natural gas contained in rock formations below the seabed. Many oil platforms will also include facilities to accommodate the workforce. Most commonly, oil platforms operate on the continental shelf, but they can also be used in lakes, coastal waters and inland seas. Depending on the conditions, the platform can be anchored to the ocean floor, consisting of an artificial island or buoy. [1] Remote submarine wells can also be connected to a platform by flow lines and hub connections. These subsea solutions can consist of one or more subsea wells or one or more manifold centers for multiple wells.

Offshore drilling poses environmental challenges both from the hydrocarbons produced and the materials used during the drilling process. Among the discussions are the ongoing US offshore drilling debate. [2nd]

There are many different types of facilities where offshore drilling operations are carried out. These include bottom-installed drilling rigs (propulsion barges and swamp barges), combined drilling and production facilities, bottom-installed or floating platforms, and semi-underwater mobile offshore drilling units (MODU), semi-underwater and drill ships. These can operate in water depths up to 3,000 meters (9,800 ft). In shallower waters, mobile units are anchored on the sea floor. However, in deeper water (more than 1,500 meters (4,900 ft)), semi-divers or drill ships are kept in the required drilling position using dynamic positioning.