Anniversary Special: 50 key events, technologies shaped the offshore industry

Jerry Greenberg
Special Correspondent

For Offshore's 50th anniversary, the magazine is highlighting events and technologies that helped the offshore oil and gas industry in its quest to produce hydrocarbons in increasingly challenging environments. In some cases, while a technology may not have originally been developed for offshore use, such as the roller cutter bit, its offshore applications furthered the progress of the offshore industry. The events and technologies are listed in chronological order.

Origin of offshore drilling (1897)

The origin of offshore drilling has been traced to Summerland, California, where a significant drilling boom was occurring onshore. The community's founder, Henry L. Williams, noted that the most prolific wells were drilled along the coastline, and he surmised that the play also extended offshore. Williams and others built wooden piers that extended about 450 ft into the Pacific Ocean, reaching water depths of about 35 ft. Williams erected 20 derricks on the piers over the next three years. By 1900, 11 piers had been built at Summerland.

Roller cutter bit (1909)

Howard Hughes Sr., after making his name as a wildcatter and speculator in Texas, turned his attention to technology, inventing the roller cutter bit in 1909. Later to be called the roller cone or rock bit, Hughes' bit had 166 cutting edges on the surface of two metal cones mounted opposite each other. The bit proved very effective in hard formations.

Caddo Lake drilling (1911)

Following on the example set at Summerland, California, Gulf Oil Corp. began exploration in Caddo Lake. Pilings made from logs from local Cypress trees supported wooden platforms for drilling and production operations. Each platform supported a drilling rig, and each producing well was tied to shore via a 3-in. pipeline to other platform-mounted gathering and separation stations. The Caddo Lake complex was the first use of piled platforms.

Oil discovered in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela (1922)

Royal Dutch/Shell obtained over-water leases in Lake Maracaibo and used wooden piled platforms for E&P methods similar to those at Summerland and Caddo Lake. Most of the exploration was conducted from the concrete-piled platforms in water depths to about 125 ft. Oil reserves were being developed by the 1930s.

Artificial island, Caspian Sea (1925)

The Russians built an artificial island in the Caspian Sea to drill oil wells near Ilyich Bay. This method was difficult and expensive, and operators drilled later wells from wooden platforms.

Caspian Sea E&P (1930-40s)

By the early 1900s, Russia had been producing oil along the Caspian Sea coastline for decades, and the country was seeking to exploit reserves in the sea itself. An early plan to fill the shallow bays with rocks for use as a drilling surface was dropped as events pushed that to the wayside. In the 1930s, the Soviets built wooden trestles and platforms into the lake. By the early 1940s, there were hundreds of miles of trestles throughout the lake near Baku.

First Gulf of Mexico exploration (1937)

Pure Oil Co. and Superior Petroleum conducted exploration on a state lease offshore Louisiana in 1937 from a 33,000-sq-ft wooden platform in 14 ft of water less than 1 mi from shore, setting a record for platform size and water depth. A land-type rig was used in the discovery of commercial quantities of oil. The find represents the first oil produced from a fixed platform in the Gulf. The platform was subsequently enlarged, and 10 more wells were drilled and completed in what became the Creole field. The field produced for more than 30 years.

Suited divers (1940s)

Using suited divers, Humble Oil and Standard of California discovered the first truly offshore field west of Santa Barbara. The divers laid out a sequence of north-to-south survey traverses from Coal Oil Point, measuring strike and dip of outcrop beds on the seafloor and collecting samples that were plotted on a map using a sextant. The efforts led to the discovery of the Hondo field, one of the largest fields offshore California.

First offshore well (1947)

Kerr-McGee drilled the first well out of sight of land at the Ship Shoal block 32 discovery in 1947 in the GoM. This project spawned other industry firsts (see below), including first offshore piled platform, first use of a drilling tender, and first use of a helicopter in support of offshore E&P.

Tender assist rigs (1947)

R.S. Kerr pioneered the use of a drilling tender alongside a fixed platform and is credited with the first well and first oil strike out of sight of land in the GoM in 1947. The tender was named the Frank Phillips. About 90% of offshore wells were drilled from tender/platform combinations for the next several years.

Piled platforms (1947)

J. Ray McDermott Co. pioneered the concept of piled structures by building a tubular steel space frame. The hollow legs of the frame, or jacket as it was later called, allowed for steel piles to be driven through them to pin the structure to the seafloor. This method became the industry standard for thousands of piled structures around the world.

Helicopters (1948)

Helicopters were first used offshore in 1948 when Humble Oil & Refining and Kerr-McGee used them to transport workers to offshore facilities. Bell Helicopters developed the three-person Model 47 unit that was first used offshore. A flat area on the landing ship tank anchored next to Humble's Rig 28 served as a landing pad.

Marine riser system (1948)

In 1948, Union filed for a patent on marine risers that provided a conduit for drill pipe, with the annulus providing a path for mud circulation. All subsequent patents incorporating basic marine riser technology cite the art described by the Union patent. Early significant enhancements were developed by The Offshore Co. in 1963 when it added various control, choke, and kill lines into the basic riser configuration.

Crane vessels (1949)

The industry quickly learned that constructing platforms piece by piece was inefficient. Fabricating large sections of the structure onshore could significantly reduce time and costs. In 1949, the J. Ray McDermott Co. built Derrick Barge Four that was equipped with a 150-ton capacity revolving crane, enabling the construction of platform jackets and decks to be completed onshore and to be transported and set in place offshore.

Submersible drilling rigs (1949)

John Hayward combined a barge and a piled platform so only the columns connecting the submerged barge were exposed to wave forces, unlike the early submersible barges used primarily in inland areas. He also developed a method for ballasting and deballasting the barge and stabilizing it on the seafloor. The Breton Rig 20, conceived by Hayward, was built for Barnsdall Oil & Refining Co. and put into operation in 1949. The Mr. Charlie was built in 1953 by Alden J. "Doc" Laborde, who founded Ocean Drilling & Exploration Co. (Odeco).

Jackup drilling rig (1954)

The Offshore Rig 51 was the first self-elevating drilling rig, developed by a joint venture of The Offshore Co., Southern Production (later called SONAT), J. Ray McDermott, and DeLong in 1954. Based on the DeLong jacking system, the rig had 10 legs, each 6 ft in diameter and 160 ft long. C.G. Glasscock Drilling also built the Mr. Gus in 1954, a Bethlehem design unit that was intended for drilling in 100 ft of water.

Personnel transfer net/basket (1955)

Early in the history of offshore exploration, a boat landing at a fixed platform or rig was equipped with a knotted rope suspended from an overhead beam. The workers had to grab a knotted rope when the crew boat was on the crest of a wave and swing onto the boat landing. In 1955, Billy Pugh developed the Billy Pugh Net, or basket, for transferring personnel from boats. The apparatus quickly caught on and became the industry standard transfer device for personnel.

Marine seismic (1950s)

2D seismic surveys were conducted prior to the mid-1950s. A patent filed in 1950 was granted in 1956 for 3D seismic surveys that resulted in recordings taken from multiple points, increasing clarity of subsurface structures. Petty Ray Engineering is recognized as having directed the evolution to 3D seismic as well as numerous other innovations that significantly improved seismic images.

Subsea BOP control systems (1953)

The first floating drilling was conducted in shallow waters off California in 1953 from the M.V. Submarex, a wooden hulled ship owned and operated by a group named CUSS that included Conoco, Union Oil of California, The Superior Oil Co., and Shell Oil Co. Subsea BOP equipment mounted near the seafloor included a circulating head and remote latching mechanism manufactured by Shaffer Tool Works of Long Beach, California. Individual hoses bundled together and attached to the drilling riser controlled the equipment.

Moored drillships (1953)

The CUSS Group's Submarex, became the first moored drilling ship. It consisted of a wooden hulled converted Navy patrol craft with a coring rig mounted on an over-the-side cantilever that was used in 1953 to drill for core samples offshore California. The Western Explorer, a converted Navy landing ship medium (LSM), was the first drillship to use a coring rig mounted over a center moonpool in 1955.

Multi-lateral drilling (1953)

Alexander Grigoryan is recognized as drilling one of the first horizontal wells, the Baku 1385. In 1953, he drilled well 66/45 in the Bashkira field in southern Russia. When he reached the pay zone, he drilled nine lateral wells of varying measured depth. When the well was put on production, it produced 755 b/d of oil, 17 times more than other wells in the field, and cost 1.5 times more than a conventionally drilled single branch well.

Offshore pipelines (1954)

Brown & Root had installed pipelines in Galveston Bay before it laid the first offshore pipeline in the GoM to transport oil from the Creole platform to shore about a mile away. Brown & Root laid the first offshore natural gas pipeline, a 10-in., 10-mi concrete-coated line, from the Cameron field to Louisiana.

Pipelay vessels (1954)

The Herman B., a Brown & Root vessel equipped with a side ramp to ease the angle of the pipeline to the seafloor, was the first pipelay vessel. Four welding stations on the deck attached new lengths of pipe to the line as the vessel was advanced by an eight-point mooring spread.

Supply vessels (1955)

Surplus World War II vessels, wooden fishing boats, and shrimp trawlers were originally used to supply offshore rigs with cement, mud, spare parts, crews, and food. In 1955, Alden and John Laborde developed the first purpose-built vessel to supply offshore rigs and platforms, featuring a bow wheelhouse and a long flat afterdeck that became the standard for offshore supply vessels.

Diving (1957)

Research begun by the US Navy in 1957 led to the development of saturation diving, which uses a combination of helium and oxygen for breathing. Two ex-Navy divers, Edward Lee Taylor and Mark Banjavich, and French diver Jean Valz formed Taylor Diving in 1957. Brown & Root later acquired the company. Taylor Diving further developed techniques and equipment to extend the use of mixed diving to depths required by the offshore industry.

Offshore Alaska E&P (1959)

Exploration activity offshore Alaska first occurred in state waters in Cook Inlet. Production began in 1964. While other areas off Alaska have been less successful, including exploration efforts in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, the Beaufort Sea area has seen successful E&P efforts.

Subsea wellheads (1960)

The first underwater completions were a series of gas wells on the north shore of Lake Erie using conventional trees installed by suited divers in 20-30 ft of water. Subsea wellheads as they are used today were first tested in the US Gulf in 1960.

Semisubmersible drilling rig (1961)

The first semisubmersible drilling rig was the Bluewater I, which was designed by Shell and converted from an existing four-column submersible. The first newly built semisubmersible was Odeco's Ocean Driller, a three-column, V-shaped structure.

First North Sea exploration (1964)

The first North Sea exploration occurred in the UK sector in 1964 when a jackup drilled a dry hole. Gas was discovered the following year.

First UK North Sea discovery (1969)

The first commercial oil discovery in the UK sector occurred in 1969 with the Arbroath field. The first UK North Sea field to come onstream was the Argyll field operated by Hamilton Brothers in July 1975.

First North Sea oil (1969)

In 1970, Phillips Petroleum revealed information about its 1969 Ekofisk oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The significance of the discovery was unknown then, but it dispelled the widely held notion that only natural gas existed below the North Sea. The well flowed at rates up to 2,000 b/d at the time. Initial production from the field was from a converted jackup production unit.

First mobile production unit (1971)

The first offshore mobile production unit in use produced the Ekofisk field, the North Sea's first oilfield. Phillips converted the four-leg jackup Gulftide to begin production in 1971, two years before the Ekofisk tank production system was installed.

Floating production, storage and offloading system (1974)

Arco Indonesia installed the first ship-shape production vessel in 1974 in the Ardjuna field offshore Java. Shell installed an FPSO in 1977 in the Castellon field offshore Spain.

First floating production unit (1975)

The first floating production unit was the conversion of the Transworld 58 semisubmersible by Hamilton Brothers for the Argyll field, the first UK field to come onstream.

Alexander Kielland accident (1980)

The Alexander Kielland accommodation unit in the North Sea capsized in harsh weather in 1980, killing 123 of the more than 200 aboard the unit. A crack in one of the legs caused the unit to collapse and capsize. The unit was not righted until 1983.

First US FPSO (1981)

The Exxon OST was the first US FPSO, and it was installed in the Hondo field offshore California, processing oil from a fixed platform. It was removed in the 1990s after installation of a pipeline to shore.

Ocean Ranger accident (1982)

The Ocean Ranger semisubmersible capsized and sank on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in 1982 during a severe winter storm packing 90-knot winds and high seas. All 84 crew members died. Investigation indicated that a huge wave had swept over the rig, breaking a porthole in the ballast control room, shorting circuits, and causing the rig to list.

Area-wide Gulf of Mexico leasing (1983)

The first area-wide Gulf of Mexico lease sale, Outer Continental Shelf Sale No.72, was held in May 1983 in the central Gulf, resulting in 656 new blocks being added to oil company inventories. Operators submitted high bids of a record $3.4 billion.

Tension leg platform (1984)

The first TLP was installed in Conoco's North Sea Hutton field. The topsides were removed in 2003 and will be refurbished prior to being used to produce a shallow-water field in the Barents Sea off Russia. Statoil's and Conoco's Heidrun field TLP was the first and so far only unit with a concrete hull.

$10 oil (1986)

As oil prices fell during the early to mid-1980s, OPEC attempted to stabilize them by setting lower production quotas. Several OPEC members produced above their quotas, however, so Saudi Arabia took it upon itself to become the swing producer, reducing its output, hoping to halt the declining oil price. In August 1985, the country abandoned that role and increased production from 2 MMb/d to 5 MMb/d. Oil prices fell to below $10/bbl by mid 1986 as a result.

Piper Alpha accident (1988)

A massive gas condensate leak resulted in an explosion aboard the Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea, killing 167 workers in 1988. There were 62 survivors. It was believed that the leak resulted from pipe work connected to a condensate pump when a safety valve was removed for maintenance.

Deepest fixed platform (1988)

Shell established a water depth record for a fixed platform with its Bullwinkle platform in 1,350 ft of water in Green Canyon block 65 in the GoM. It is the world's tallest pile-supported, fixed steel platform with a total height of 1,736 ft from the seafloor to the flare boom.

First GoM floating production system (1989)

Placid Oil installed the first US GoM floating production system in its Green Canyon block 29 development project. The converted semisubmersible proved the feasibility of an FPS in the Gulf, but the project failed when the reservoir failed to produce as anticipated. Enserch Exploration used many of Placid's ideas and some of its equipment in 1995 to develop its Garden Banks block 388 discovery in 2,190 ft of water.

Surface BOP drilling from a floating rig (1992)

Unocal used SBOPs in mid-1992 for its deepwater saturation exploration program offshore Indonesia. As experience grew, Unocal was able to drill a 16,000-ft well in more than 6,700 ft of water in less than 18 days.

First spar production facility (1996)

The first spar-based production facility was installed in 1996 in Oryx Energy's US Gulf Neptune field in 1,930 ft of water. The economics of the spar were quickly realized, and the concept soon became a production facility of choice in the GoM.

Extended reach drilling (1998)

BP drilled the Wytch Farm M-11 stepout well to a total depth of 10,658 m in 173 days, breaking the previous extended reach record by 2,051 m. True vertical depth of the well was 1,605 m.

Largest GoM discovery (1999)

BP discovered the Thunder Horse field in 1999 in the Mississippi Canyon area, with estimated recoverable reserves exceeding 1 Bbbl of oil. The field is in 6,000 ft of water. The drillship Discoverer 534 drilled the discovery well to 25,770 ft. The field will be developed via what will be the world's largest semisubmersible floating production, drilling, and quarters unit with a total operating displacement of more than 140,000 tons.

Dual activity drillship (1999)

Transocean's drillship Discoverer Enterprise was the first ultra-deepwater drillship with dual activity drilling technology to conduct drilling operations simultaneously rather than sequentially via two full capability drilling rigs under a single huge derrick. The aim is to reduce the time necessary for ultra-deepwater operations, thus reducing costs.

Ultra deepwater (2003)

ChevronTexaco and Transocean set a world water depth record when they drilled the Toledo well in 10,011 ft of water in Alaminos Canyon block 951 in the GoM with the drillship Discoverer Deep Seas. Transocean drilled the previous water depth record, also in the US Gulf, in 9,727 ft of water with the drillship Discoverer Spirit for Unocal.

Deepest water depth production (2004)

Production from the deepest water depth began in Shell's Coulomb field in 7,600 ft of water in the US Gulf, which is also a record water depth for a subsea completion. The field is tied back to the Na Kika host facility.