Editing Oil platform (section)

==History==
Jan Józef Ignacy Łukasiewicz<ref>{{cite web | url=https://culture.pl/en/article/ignacy-lukasiewicz-the-generous-inventor-of-the-kerosene-lamp | title=Ignacy Łukasiewicz: Generous Inventor of the Kerosene Lamp }}</ref> ({{IPA|pl|iɡˈnatsɨ wukaˈɕɛvitʂ}}; 8 March 1822 – 7 January 1882) was a Polish pharmacist, engineer, businessman, inventor, and philanthropist. He was one of the most prominent philanthropists in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, crown land of Austria-Hungary. He was a pioneer who in 1856 built the world's first modern oil refinery.
[[File:Oil wells just offshore at Summerland, California, c.1915.jpg|thumb|Oil wells just offshore at [[Summerland, California]], before 1906.]]
[[File:Tender and offshore oil rig platform, Louisiana.jpg|thumb|Tender and offshore oil rig platform near [[Louisiana]].]]
[[File:Schemat wydobywania ropy naftowej.svg|thumb|Diagram showing the operation of a typical oil platform: 1. Drilling rig; 2. Rock layers; 3. Oil drills; 4. Oil and natural gas.]]
Around 1891, the first submerged oil wells were drilled from platforms built on [[pilings|piles]] in the fresh waters of the [[Grand Lake St. Marys]] (a.k.a. Mercer County Reservoir) in [[Ohio]]. The wide but shallow reservoir was built from 1837 to 1845 to provide water to the [[Miami and Erie Canal]].

Around 1896, the first submerged oil wells in salt water were drilled in the portion of the [[Summerland Oil Field|Summerland field]] extending under the [[Santa Barbara Channel]] in [[California]]. The wells were drilled from [[pier]]s extending from land out into the channel.

Other notable early submerged drilling activities occurred on the Canadian side of [[Lake Erie]] since 1913 and [[Caddo Lake]] in [[Louisiana]] in the 1910s. Shortly thereafter, wells were drilled in tidal zones along the [[Gulf Coast of the United States|Gulf Coast]] of [[Texas]] and Louisiana. The [[Goose Creek Oil Field|Goose Creek field]] near [[Baytown, Texas]], is one such example. In the 1920s, drilling was done from concrete platforms in [[Lake Maracaibo]], [[Venezuela]].

The oldest offshore well recorded in Infield's offshore database is the [[Bibiheybət|Bibi Eibat]] well which came on stream in 1923 in [[Azerbaijan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.members.tripod.com/azmsa/oil.html|title=Oil in Azerbaijan|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-date=27 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427111525/http://www.members.tripod.com/azmsa/oil.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Landfill was used to raise shallow portions of the [[Caspian Sea]].

In the early 1930s, [[Texaco|the Texas Company]] developed the first mobile steel barges for drilling in the brackish coastal areas of the gulf.

In 1937, [[Pure Oil Company]] (now [[Chevron Corporation]]) and its partner [[Superior Oil Company]] (now part of [[ExxonMobil Corporation]]) used a fixed platform to develop a field in {{convert|14|ft|m}} of water, one mile (1.6&nbsp;km) offshore of [[Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana]].

In 1938, Humble Oil built a mile-long wooden trestle with railway tracks into the sea at McFadden Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, placing a derrick at its end – this was later destroyed by a hurricane.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Morton|first1=Michael Quentin|date=June 2016|title=Beyond Sight of Land: A History of Oil Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico|url=https://www.academia.edu/25960555|journal=GeoExpro|volume=30|issue=3|pages=60–63|access-date=8 November 2016|archive-date=8 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808034610/https://www.academia.edu/25960555|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1945, concern for American control of its offshore oil reserves caused President [[Harry Truman]] to issue an Executive Order unilaterally extending American territory to the edge of its continental shelf, an act that effectively ended the [[3-mile limit]] "[[freedom of the seas]]" regime.

In 1946, Magnolia Petroleum (now [[ExxonMobil]]) drilled at a site {{convert|18|mi|km}} off the coast, erecting a platform in {{convert|18|ft|m}} of water off [[St. Mary Parish, Louisiana]].

In early 1947, Superior Oil erected a drilling/production platform in {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}} of water some 18 miles{{vague|which miles?|date=February 2010}} off [[Vermilion Parish, Louisiana]]. But it was [[Kerr-McGee]] Oil Industries (now part of [[Occidental Petroleum]]), as operator for partners [[Phillips Petroleum]] ([[ConocoPhillips]]) and [[Stanolind Oil & Gas]] ([[BP]]), that completed its historic Ship Shoal Block 32 well in October 1947, months before Superior actually drilled a discovery from their Vermilion platform farther offshore. In any case, that made Kerr-McGee's well the first oil discovery drilled out of sight of land.<ref>Ref accessed 02-12-89 by technical aspects and coast mapping. [[Kerr-McGee]]</ref><ref name="project-redsand">{{Cite web|url=http://www.project-redsand.com/|title=Project Redsand CIO &#124; Protecting The Redsand Towers|access-date=2007-06-16|archive-date=2017-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702061430/http://project-redsand.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The British [[Maunsell Forts]] constructed during [[World War II]] are considered the direct predecessors of modern offshore platforms. Having been pre-constructed in a very short time, they were then floated to their location and placed on the shallow bottom of the [[Thames]] and the [[Mersey]] estuary.<ref name="project-redsand" /><ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=Azerbaijan International|volume=11|issue=2|pages=56–63|url=http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai112_folder/112_articles/112_chronology.html|title=Azerbaijan's Oil History: Brief Oil Chronology since 1920 Part 2|author=Mir-Yusif Mir-Babayev|date=Summer 2003|access-date=2006-11-01|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185344/http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai112_folder/112_articles/112_chronology.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1954, the first [[jackup rig|jackup oil rig]] was ordered by [[Zapata Oil]]. It was designed by [[R. G. LeTourneau]] and featured three electro-mechanically operated lattice-type legs. Built on the shores of the [[Mississippi River]] by the LeTourneau Company, it was launched in December 1955, and christened "Scorpion". The Scorpion was put into operation in May 1956 off [[Port Aransas]], Texas. It was lost in 1969.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://iadc.org/dcpi/dc-septoct05/Sept05-anniversary.pdf |title=Rowan Companies marks 50th anniversary of landmark LeTourneau jackup |access-date=2017-05-01 |archive-date=2017-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031112929/http://iadc.org/dcpi/dc-septoct05/Sept05-anniversary.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://petrowiki.org/History_of_offshore_drilling_units|title=History of offshore drilling units – PetroWiki|website=petrowiki.org|date=2 June 2015 |access-date=2017-05-01|archive-date=2017-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322213629/http://petrowiki.org/History_of_offshore_drilling_units|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Building A Legend - Part 2 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ibvuWmF7Dc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510100159/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ibvuWmF7Dc&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=2014-05-10 |access-date=2017-05-01 |website=YouTube}}</ref>

When offshore drilling moved into deeper waters of up to {{convert|30|m|ft}}, fixed platform rigs were built, until demands for drilling equipment was needed in the {{convert|30|m|ft}} to {{convert|120|m|ft}} depth of the Gulf of Mexico, the first [[Jackup rig|jack-up rigs]] began appearing from specialized offshore drilling contractors such as forerunners of ENSCO International.

The first [[semi-submersible]] resulted from an unexpected observation in 1961. [[Blue Water Drilling Company]] owned and operated the four-column submersible Blue Water Rig No.1 in the Gulf of Mexico for [[Shell Oil Company]]. As the pontoons were not sufficiently buoyant to support the weight of the rig and its consumables, it was towed between locations at a draught midway between the top of the pontoons and the underside of the deck. It was noticed that the motions at this draught were very small, and Blue Water Drilling and Shell jointly decided to try operating the rig in its floating mode. The concept of an anchored, stable floating deep-sea platform had been designed and tested back in the 1920s by [[Edward Robert Armstrong]] for the purpose of operating aircraft with an invention known as the "seadrome". The first purpose-built drilling [[semi-submersible]] ''Ocean Driller'' was launched in 1963. Since then, many semi-submersibles have been purpose-designed for the drilling industry mobile offshore fleet.

The first offshore [[drillship]] was the ''CUSS 1'' developed for the [[Mohole]] project to drill into the Earth's crust.

As of June, 2010, there were over 620 mobile offshore drilling rigs (Jackups, semisubs, drillships, barges) available for service in the competitive rig fleet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rigzone.com/data/|title=RIGZONE – Offshore Rig Data, Onshore Fleet Analysis|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408021427/http://www.rigzone.com/data/|archive-date=8 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

One of the world's deepest hubs is currently the [[Perdido oil platform|Perdido]] in the Gulf of Mexico, floating in 2,438 meters of water. It is operated by [[Shell plc]] and was built at a cost of $3&nbsp;billion.<ref name= UPDATE1>{{cite web|date=March 31, 2010|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3123683920100331|title=UPDATE 1-Shell starts production at Perdido|work=Reuters|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-date=21 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121070821/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3123683920100331|url-status=live}}</ref> The deepest operational platform is the Petrobras America Cascade FPSO in the Walker Ridge 249 field in 2,600 meters of water.