Technical Progress in Exploration and Drilling for Oil

I. Offshore Drilling

Abstract

Petroleum reserves in the continental shelf is very abundant, and it is estimated to be about 100×10⁹kl. Offshore drilling is used for the development of this sleeping reserve. Although the offshore drilling technique is young in history, it has a very promising future. The techniques which has been used up to now are classified into two drilling methods, one methodinvolves the pier system, the artificial island system, and the fixed platform system, in which the drilling for well is done on the fixed structure as on the land, and the other contains the submergible, jack-up and semi-submergible systems, which is the drilling for well oil at an optional movable places. Among the above promising is the semi-submergible system, according to which the greater part of the contintenal shelf can be drilled only by its depth. In parallel to this, the installment for drilling the wells for oil (gas) at the under-sea is now being developed.