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To extract oil from the Jack field, a rig will have to negotiate freezing waters, boiling oil, and seismic uncertainty. Here’s how.
1) Stable platform Giant engines at each corner of the drilling rig keep everything stable. When the ocean pulls one way, the thrusters push the other.
2) The 6-mile Drill The drill is made up of hundreds of interlocking 90-foot sections of iron. Buoyant sidings reduce the weight burden on the rig.
3) Point of entry The drill needs to enter the seafloor at exactly the right point, minimizing the risk of hitting an air pocket or a fault as it goes whirring down. Boiling-hot oil emerges here and collides with freezing water, which means that the underwater pipes pumping the oil back to shore must be heavily insulated.
4) Dangerous journey The drill must traverse numerous pressure zones, any one of which could knock it off course.
5) X marks the spot Bedrock mounds, formed by oil pushing upward, signal promising hot spots.
6) Jackpot The oil is trapped in squishy, porous rock.
Illustration: Kevin Hand
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