by Bruce Wells | Oct 1, 2025 | Petroleum Technology
Offshore oil and natural gas platforms have proven useful after retirement. Hundreds of former platforms serve as aquatic habitats. A jack-up rig in Galveston, Texas, is an offshore museum. There’s a historic mobile rig in Morgan City, Louisiana, that in 2024 was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Another mobile platform launched satellites from 1999 to 2014. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Jul 27, 2025 | Offshore History, Petroleum in War
Routine seabed scan for new pipeline revealed Nazi sub less than one mile from its last victim.
During World War II, U-boats prowled the Gulf of Mexico to disrupt the flow of oil carried by tankers departing ports in Louisiana and Texas. Sixty years later, seabed surveys found U-166 — and its last victim.
Petroleum exploration and production companies operating in the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS) typically provide government scientists with sonar data for areas with potential archaeological value. (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Jul 1, 2025 | Offshore History
The U.S. offshore petroleum industry began with drilling and production from platforms constructed on lakes in Ohio and Louisiana and on California oil piers. In Ohio, state geologists reported oil wells drilled on Grand Lake as early as 1891. Dozens of wells on Louisiana’s Caddo Lake also produced oil in 1911.
By 1897, Henry Williams had successfully pursued the giant Summerland, California, oilfield to the scenic cliffside beaches of Santa Barbara.
California Oil Piers
With reports of “tar balls” on the beaches from natural offshore oil seeps, Williams recognized that the highly productive field extended into the Pacific Ocean. He and his associates constructed a 300-foot pier, mounted a cable-tool derrick, and began drilling. (more…)
