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TYPES OF
DRILLING RIGS

IADC Drilling Manual 12th Edition

IADC Drilling Manual • Copyright © 2015

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 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-i

CHAPTER

RT
TYPES OF
DRILLING RIGS

he IADC Drilling Manual is a series of reference guides assembled by volunteer drilling-industry professionals with
T expertise spanning a broad range of topics. These volunteers contributed their time, energy and knowledge in developing
the IADC Drilling Manual, 12th edition, to help facilitate safe and efficient drilling operations, training, and equipment mainte-
nance and repair.

The contents of this manual should not replace or take precedence over manufacturer, operator or individual drilling company
recommendations, policies or procedures. In jurisdictions where the contents of the IADC Drilling Manual may conflict with
regional, state or national statute or regulation, IADC strongly advises adhering to local rules.

While IADC believes the information presented is accurate as of the date of publication, each reader is responsible for his own
reliance, reasonable or otherwise, on the information presented. Readers should be aware that technology and practices ad-
vance quickly, and the subject matter discussed herein may quickly become surpassed. If professional engineering expertise is
required, the services of a competent individual or firm should be sought. Neither IADC nor the contributors to this chapter war-
rant or guarantee that application of any theory, concept, method or action described in this book will lead to the result desired
by the reader.

Contributors
Mark Dreith, Dreith Working Interests LLC
Shane Lalumandier

Reviewers
Alan Spackman, IADC
Joe Hurt, IADC
RT-ii TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS

This is a chapter of the IADC Drilling Manual, 12th edition.

Copyright © 2015 International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), Houston, Texas.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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USA

ISBN: 978-0-9909049-5-3

IADC Drilling Manual Copyright © 2015


CHAPTER RT
TYPES OF
DRILLING RIGS
Introduction......................................................................RT-1
Land Rigs���������������������������������������������������������������������������RT-1
Fit-for-purpose rigs��������������������������������������������������������������� RT-1
Walking rigs����������������������������������������������������������������������������RT-2
Offshore rigs������������������������������������������������������������������� RT-3
Platform rigs���������������������������������������������������������������������������RT-3
MODU types��������������������������������������������������������������������������RT-4
Posted barges and submersibles�������������������������������������RT-6
Jackups�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������RT-7
TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-iii
Contents
Semisubmersibles�����������������������������������������������������������������RT-8
Drillships����������������������������������������������������������������������������������RT-9
Conclusion��������������������������������������������������������������������� RT-10
References��������������������������������������������������������������������� RT-11
IADC Drilling Manual chapters��������������������������������������RT-11
IADC Deepwater Well Control Guidelines���������������� RT-13
IADC Health, Safety and Environmental
Reference Guide������������������������������������������������������������ RT-13
THE IADC LEXICON
D E F I N I N G T H E D R I L L I N G S PAC E !

IADC Lexicon puts critical definitions at your fingertips.

Imagine thousands of the most pertinent definitions and terms relevant to
drilling, all in a single convenient repository – the IADC Lexicon. The IADC
Lexicon draws from the most critical legislation, regulations, standards and
guidelines worldwide.
The European Union requested that IADC, as the authority in the drilling
space, create the Lexicon to aid in regulation and understanding our industry.
Use the IADC Lexicon as a dictionary or to quickly and easily identify a
relevant standard, guideline or regulation. Or, use it as a template to develop
instructions for your own company.

www.iadclexicon.org

Figure RT-1: With the advent of steel rig construction,
derricks were replaced by masts. A mast has fewer
pieces to assemble and a smaller footprint than a
derrick. Importantly, it remains open on one side,
allowing traveling equipment to run freely up and down
and has fewer pieces to assembly. IADC image.
Introduction
This chapter will explain the various types of drilling rigs
used today. It will try to touch on the unique features of each
rig type and their relative advantages and drawbacks. This
chapter is not meant to be an exhaustive narrative on each
rig type, but strives to provide the reader with an overview of
each. The one overriding theme that holds true, regardless
of rig type, is that the drilling industry has made big changes
in the design and layouts of all rig types to improve safety
for the people working on these rigs, safeguard the envi-
ronment, and improve the efficiency to minimize the time it
takes to construct the well.
Land rigs
As mechanization made the hunt for hydrocarbons more ef-
ficient, it had a direct effect on land rig design. The first land
rigs were permanent wooden structures and would be left in
place after the well was drilled. Many were just tall poles or
simple V-frame structures. As well depth increased, drilling
required stronger structures and rig construction from steel
became the norm.
Fabricating rigs from steel meant that no longer would the
IADC Drilling Manual
TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-1
Figure RT-2: At top is a mast being raised by the bull lines
and drawworks (Courtesy Nabors Industries Ltd.). The photo
below shows the mast being raised by hydraulic cylinders
(Courtesy Precision Drilling Oilfield Services Corp.).
structure be abandoned at the well site. Now, rigs could be
moved from site to site, a major advantage. To enhance rig
mobility, the original, bulky derrick was replaced with masts.
A mast has fewer pieces to assemble and a smaller footprint
than a derrick. Importantly, it remains open on one side, al-
lowing traveling equipment to run freely up and down and
has fewer pieces to assembly.
Once on location, masts can be raised either by bull lines
and the drawworks or by using cylinders. Cylinder-raised
masts feature 2-3 fully constructed sections that pin togeth-
er before the hydraulic cylinders raise them or a two-section
telescoping mast where the top section is telescoped up af-
ter raising.
Fit-for-purpose rigs
Drilling rigs often go where few people wish to venture,
such as burning deserts and frozen tundra. Because few
or no highways exist to transport rigs in deserts, industry
designed fit-for-purpose rigs. To move these rigs across the
Copyright © 2015
RT-2 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS
Figure RT-3a: Winterized Arctic rigs are often
modular in design and capable of skidding from
wellhead to wellhead. Courtesy Bentec.
Figure RT-3b: Desert drilling rigs were purpose built to
traverse the roadless sands of this tough environment.
Note the size of the tires relative to the people in
the foreground. Courtesy Nabors Industries Ltd.
IADC Drilling Manual
Video RT-1: Views of modern Arctic rig. Courtesy Bentec.
sands, the entire drilling structure is placed on wheels, many
of which can reach 12 ft in height. The huge wheels allow the
rig to be pulled to the next location by truck or tractor.
Industry has adapted the “standard” drilling rig for other
specialized environments. For example, Arctic rigs are win-
terized, with heating and cooling systems for the rig floor,
drillpipe and casing storage and other areas. Often modular
for easier fabrication, Arctic rigs are often capable of skid-
ding from wellhead to wellhead.
With current mechanization, wells on land can be drilled in
as little as 14 days, and drilling speed is now a rig design fac-
tor. However, this rig complexity has increased the share of
rig moving time, relative to total operating days. Drilling con-
tractors today often seek designs that shorten rig-up times.
Walking rigs
Industry’s improved understanding of accessing tight-per-
meability formations, especially shale rock, has also impact-
ed rig design. In today’s shale operations, many wellsites are
configured for multi-well drilling. The entire rig mast and
substructure walks or “skids” short distances to the next lo-
cation. As a consequence, rigs require additional structural
reinforcement, adding weight and increasing design com-
Figure RT-4: Trailer-mounted rig working on location.
Courtesy Drillmec Drilling Technologies.
Copyright © 2015

Video RT-2: Example of walking rig. IADC
video of Wisco Moran drilling rig.
plexity. However, the mud system does not move with the
mast and substructure, as with desert rigs. Consequently,
heavy and complex festoons and flowline systems are being
added to allow the rig to “walk” 100 ft without rigging down.
The search for the land rig design that accommodates all
the latest drilling equipment and can still move quickly from
wellsite to wellsite continues. Today, the industry box-on-
box substructures, telescopic substructures, as well as de-
signs featuring cantilevered masts in which the mast and
rig floor are elevated in a single step. (This was originally
introduced as the “Dreco Slingshot”). Rigs are being built to
handle single stands of drillpipe, as well as doubles and tri-
ples. Many of the smaller single style rigs being mounted on
trailers for easy transport.
Offshore rigs
Explorers began finding and drilling for oil in the ocean early
in the 20th Century. The earliest offshore wells were drilled
by equipment that differed little from land rigs, except that
IADC Drilling Manual
TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-3
Figure RT-5: One of the latest trends is
“walking” rigs, used in multi-well locations
to access drill sites that might be 100 ft
apart (left). Photo above shows a close up
of a rig “foot”. Photo at left courtesy Entro
Engineering. Photo above an IADC image.
they were mounted at the end of piers protruding into the
ocean. Platform rigs have come a long way since then, and
other types of marine rigs evolved to meet varying water
depths and other environmental demands offshore.
Platform rigs
As industry stepped out beyond the reach of land-based
piers, platform rigs were installed on large steel “jackets”,
the bottom-supported frames supporting the rig substruc-
ture, derrick and, often, fluid-processing equipment for pro-
duced oil or gas (Figure RT-6).
Platform drilling rigs themselves are essentially of the same
type and construction as land based rigs, with BOPs on sur-
face verses subsea, and special considerations to minimize
weight that needed to be supported by the platform. De-
pending on the size and capacity of the particular platform,
if it was not of sufficient size to support the complete drill-
ing package, plus all of the equipment, materials, and liq-
uids necessary for the drilling operation, the use of a tender
vessel was often required. The tender vessel, be it a barge,
semisubmersible or ship, would maintain station alongside
the platform, and all of the necessary manpower, electrical
power, mud pumping capacity, equipment and materials
stored/located on the tender is transferred to the platform
rig as required.
With the advent of extended-reach and horizontal drilling,
enabled by steerable drilling technology, a significant number
of wells (typically 8, 12, or 16) could be drilled from a single
platform, maximizing oil recovery. Platform drilling rigs were
deployed onto these large platforms.
Eventually, drilling operations proceeded in water far too
deep to ever land a bottom-supported steel jacket. Indus-
Copyright © 2015
RT-4 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS
Figure RT-6: Platform rig.
Figure RT-7: As industry stepped out into deeper water,
platform rigs were installed on large steel “jackets”, the
bottom-supported frames supporting the rig substructure,
derrick and, often, fluid-processing equipment for
produced oil or gas. This jacket was constructed for Shell’s
Bullwinkle platform in the US Gulf of Mexico. The jacket
was landed in 1988 in 1,360 ft of water, setting a world
record for deepest water for a production platform.
Figure RT-8: The tension-leg platform can drill and
produce in deepwater. The Olympus TLP sits above 3,000
ft of water in the US Gulf of Mexico. Courtesy Shell.
IADC Drilling Manual
Figure RT-9: Example of tender-assist rig.
try adopted different approaches, the most popular design
being the tension-leg platform. A TLP uses a floating plat-
form, much like a semisubmersible, permanently moored to
the sea floor. Figure RT-8 shows Shell’s Olympus TLP, over
the Mars field in about 3,000 ft of water in the US Gulf of
Mexico.
Tender-assist platform rigs
Older versions of the tender-assist type platform rigs uti-
lized a moored barge alongside the platform, with a ramp
that led from the barge to the platform for dragging mate-
rials (tubulars) onto the drill floor. This ramp was also used
for personnel transfer to and from the platform. However,
traversing the ramp in rough weather could result in person-
nel injury.
On modern tender-assist vessels, the deployment of an
articulated/telescoping walkway is used to safely transfer
personnel between the platform and the tender vessel.
MODU types
Today’s MODUs fall primarily into four water-depth catego-
ries:
• Shallow water: Either sitting on bottom in water depths
ranging from very shallow to 300-400 ft, or floating
with a traditional mooring system in 400-1,000 ft;
• Mid-water: Primarily using a traditional mooring
system attaching the hull/barge to the ocean floor
with chain/wire/rope to maintain stationkeeping,
in water depths ranging from 1,000-4,000 ft;
• Deepwater: Primarily using a dynamic position
system to maintain the rig over the well center,
with some specialized mooring systems in
water depths from 4,000-7,500 ft;
• Ultra-deepwater: Exclusively dynamically
positioned stationkeeping for water depths in
excess of 7,500 ft. Current rig designs have a
maximum water depth rating of 12,000 ft.
Copyright © 2015

Figure RT-10: At left is a typical BOP for land operations (Courtesy Cameron). At
right, a rendering of a subsea BOP stack. Courtesy Maersk Drilling.
The move to deepwater locations required placing the blow-
out preventer (BOP) on the ocean floor. This “subsea” BOP
stack initially used a conventional method for controlling
the BOP functions from the MODU. In shallow water and
mid-water depths, this is accomplished using a straight hy-
draulic system in which hydraulic fluid was pumped down
the umbilical lines to the control pods located on the top of
the BOP stack. The subsea stack comprises the same con-
ventional hydraulic rams and annular bags, without the add-
ed component of the lower marine riser package (LMRP).
The LMRP allows the driller to pull the control pods to the
surface without removing the critical hydraulic rams from
the wellhead on the ocean floor. (For a more complete dis-
cussion of LMRP, read the separate Floating Drilling Equip-
ment and Operations Chapter of the IADC Drilling Manual,
12th edition, or the IADC Deepwater Well Control Guide-
lines.)
With the move to deepwater and ultra-deepwater depths,
emergency hydraulic power is stored in subsea accumula-
tors attached to the subsea BOP stack. Controls went from
pure hydraulics to multiple electronic controls (“multiplex”
or “MUX”) to account for the increased pressures in deep-
water.
A riser pipe running from the top of the LMRP to the rig on
IADC Drilling Manual
TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-5
surface allows drilling fluids and wellbore cuttings to be re-
turned to the surface for treatment and recirculation. This
riser pipe is made from high-tensile steel, traditionally fabri-
cated in 50-ft lengths. Wall thickness in the older riser sys-
tems ranged between ½-⅝-in. wall thickness. More modern
deepwater risers come in lengths of 75 ft or longer, with wall
thicknesses of 1 in. or more. These changes were driven by
the tremendous tensions required at the top, and the sig-
nificant external pressures pushing in on the tube at deep-
water depths. Typical top tensions pulled from the surface
rig range from 3,000-4,000 kips to keep the riser straight
and vertical in the water column. Buoyancy modules are
also attached to the riser to decrease the weight in water of
these massive tubes. Drilling in deepwater and high currents
requires special considerations to eliminate vortex-induced
vibrations (VIV), similar to the spiral cowlings found on the
top of tall exhaust stacks on land.
Today’s modern drilling techniques require more capacity,
higher flow rates, and better cleaning abilities for the latest
drilling fluids. It is not unusual to have two separate mud
systems on a modern deepwater rig, and even have the abil-
ity to connect a completions fluid system into the circula-
tion system onboard. While two mud pumps have sufficed
in the past, most modern deepwater rigs are outfitted with
Copyright © 2015
RT-6 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS

A C

Figure RT-11: Marine riser pipe (A), marine riser pipe with buoyancy modules installed (B)
and riser pipe with strakes designed to minimize vortex-induced vibrations (C). Images A
and B courtesy GE Oil & Gas. Image C courtesy Balmoral Offshore Engineering.

Figure RT-12: A posted barge is an elevated structure built

above a submersible barge that is ballasted down at the
drilling location and generally pinned to the bottom using
piles at the corners which are driven into the seabed. Figure RT-13: A submersible is a purpose-built rig that
either has a mat or large ring pontoon at the bottom,
four and sometimes five mud pumps to increase redundanc- and columns that support the upper hull structure. The
ey and provide additional fluid flow and for some of today’s vessel is floated out to the drilling location, and ballasted
downhole steerable tools . For removing cuttings and clean- down so that mat or ring pontoon rests on the bottom.
ing the drilling fluid (“mud”) that returns to the rig from the
ed structure built above a submersible barge that is ballast-
wellbore, today’s rigs feature 6- 8 modern shakers. This has
ed down at the drilling location, and generally pinned to the
led to larger and more capable rigs, as the methods to drill
bottom using piles at the corners driven into the seabed. The
today’s wells have evolved.
elevated structure contains all the personnel accommoda-
tion, power generation, liquid storage, mud pumps, equip-
Posted barges and submersibles
ment and material storage necessary to drill the well. The
Both posted barges and submersibles are bottom-founded
drilling package is generally located at one end of the barge,
rigs that operate in relatively shallow water. Posted barges
and is either cantilevered over the end, or a slot is built into
can typically operate in 8-20 ft of water, while submersibles
the barge to accommodate the well center. Much like the
can operate in 10-70 ft of water. A posted barge is an elevat-
land rigs, a surface BOP is used for well control.

IADC Drilling Manual Copyright © 2015

 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-7

A submersible is a purpose-built rig that either has a mat

or large ring pontoon at the bottom, and columns that sup-
port the upper hull structure. The vessel is floated out to the
drilling location, and ballasted down so that a mat or ring
pontoon rests on the bottom. As with the posted barges,
submersibles are pinned to the ocean floor at the corners.
The upper hull stays elevated above the environment and
supports the drilling operation.

Both posted barges and submersibles are primarily used in

exploratory drilling, and only a single well can be drilled from
each set-up location.

Jackups
Jackup drilling rigs are also supported by the ocean floor.
Jackups can be supported either by legs that can be raised
or lowered independently or by legs attached to a large mat
resting on the ocean floor. Once on location, the hull of the
entire rig is lifted out of the water by a jacking mechanism.
This is most commonly accomplished by multiple pinion
drives climbing up the rack, which is part of the leg struc-
ture. An alternative is “single bite” hydraulic cylinders, which
raise the hull, one 8-10-ft stroke at a time.

The jackup’s hull is typically raised above the ocean until

achieving an “air gap” of some 50-70 ft or more. (The air
gap is the distance from the mean water level to the bottom
of the jackup’s hull.) This puts the hull of the rig above any
significant storm waves. When Hurricane Katrina moved
through the jackup fleet offshore Louisiana in August 2005,
the storm generated wave heights estimated at 70 ft. There
is solid evidence that jackups with air gaps less than 70 ft
were literally sheared off their legs, while jackups with larger
air gaps sustained far less damage. Figure RT-14: At top (Figure RT-14a) is a mat-supported
jackup, while the jackup on the bottom (Figure RT-14b)
Mat-supported jackups are better suited to areas with soft features independent legs. Note also the air gap on the
material on the ocean floor. They are far easier to “preload” mat-supported jackup. Courtesy Hercules Offshore Inc.
than are the independent-leg jackups. When a jackup arrives
on location and its legs or mat are jacked down to the ocean
floor, a “preload sequence” is conducted in which seawater
in brought onboard the vessel and placed into tanks. This
additional weight is used to push the legs or mat into the
seabed to establish a stable platform, prior to jacking up to
the drilling air gap. The objective of the preload sequence is
to simulate the maximum vertical loading that any single leg
will see during the worst anticipated loading condition (in-
cluding environmental loading), while the rig is on location.
Once the required amount of seawater has been brought
onboard, and no more leg settlement (penetration into the
ocean floor) is experienced, the seawater is discharged back
into the ocean, and the jackup is raised to its drilling air gap.

Some of the earlier jackups were built with a slot in the aft
end of the hull, and the drill floor package was located above
this slot in a fixed position. This allowed for only a single well
Figure RT-15: Note the slot on the left of the rig on this
slot-type jackup. The derrick had been removed from
this rig, because it was converted to a non-drilling unit.

IADC Drilling Manual Copyright © 2015

RT-8 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS
Figure RT-16: Semisubmersibles are characterized by a lower
hull of either separate pontoons or a single ring pontoon with
numerous vertical columns supporting a large upper hull. Top photo
Courtesy Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. Center photo courtesy
Noble Corporation. Bottom and inset photos courtesy Seadrill.
IADC Drilling Manual Copyright © 2015
to be drilled from each drilling location, which was
acceptable in the early days of exploration.
The limitations of this single well per location led to
the installation of the cantilever-type drilling pack-
age, in which the drilling package is located atop
large beams that can be skidded or jacked aft. This
allows greater flexibility and the ability to drill mul-
tiple wells from a single location. These cantilever
jackups also incorporated the ability to move the
drilling package transversely atop these large can-
tilever beams.
The extended-reach cantilever jackups became the
tool of choice for oil companies wishing to economi-
cally recover hydrocarbons in a given field. After the
initial hydrocarbon field discovery, the oil compa-
ny would erect a smaller platform, with an 8-, 12-,
or 16-well grid located at one end of the platform.
With a jackup located next to the platform, the der-
rick cantilevers out over the platform to drill and/or
rework wells on the platform grid. Early cantilever
envelopes made it feasible to reach wells that were
located 10-50 ft aft of the transom, and 10 ft on ei-
ther side of the rig’s centerline. This represents a 20
ft by 40 ft drilling envelope. Modern jackups have
extended-reach capabilities of 75 ft and 15-20 ft of
transverse capability. This extended the drilling en-
velop to 40 ft by 65 ft. Figure RT-14a is an example
of a cantilever jackup.
As the search for hydrocarbons moved into ev-
er-deeper waters, the capabilities of jackup drilling
rigs moved deeper, as well. Typically, early jackups
could drill in shallow waters in water depths up to
200-250 ft. In the 1980s, the upper limit in water
depths was approximately 300 ft. Today’s modern
jackups are designed to drill in water depths of 450-
500 ft.
Semisubmersibles
Semisubmersible MODUs come in all shapes and
sizes. This rig type is characterized by a lower hull
(either separate pontoons or a ring pontoon) with a
number of vertical columns supporting a large up-
per hull. In most cases, the lower pontoons contain
liquid storage, while personnel accommodation,
power generation, and equipment/material stor-
age is in the upper hull. The drilling package on a
semisubmersible can either be centered in the up-
per hull or set to one end.
Once the rig is on the drilling location, the lower
pontoons are ballasted down (i.e., “submerged”)
so that the vertical columns are sticking out of the
 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-9

water, supporting the upper hull struc-

ture. Because the semi is floating, it will
ride up and down with the waves. Con-
sequently, it does not require the same
magnitude of air gap as jackups. The
semi’s configuration minimizes the en-
vironmental loading and resulting heave,
pitch and roll of the rig, compared to a
ship-shaped hull, providing a relatively
stable platform for drilling operations.

Semisubmersibles have historically been

used in the mid-water depths (1,000-
4,000 ft), and traditionally were moored
on the drilling location using a fixed
8-point mooring system; comprised of
anchors, chains, and/or wires to main-
tain station. Using a fixed mooring sys- Figure RT-17: The ultra-deepwater drillship shown above was
tem does not allow the driller to turn the designed
ft well-depth capability. Courtesy Atwood Oceanics Inc.
rig into the weather, and for this reason,
the smaller water plane area of the ver-
tical columns minimized vessel motions
when the variable storm directions hit the rig on the beam.
Early semis were not equipped with thrusters, and the in-
stallation of thrusters were first used for “mooring assist” to
drive the rig into the weather, to decrease the mooring load
on the highest loaded moorings.
As the search for hydrocarbons moved out into deep water,
the size and capacity of the semisubmersibles grew also.
Variable deck load (VDL) is an important determinant for
water-depth capability. As a semi moves into deeper water,
it obviously must carry more riser and drillpipe to reach the
ocean floor. As a result, a deepwater rig must be able to car-
ry more weight than one in shallower water. This means the
deepwater rig must have higher VDL. For a rough compar-
ison, a mid-water semi would typically have a VDL in the
3,000-4,000-long ton range, while the VDL of a deepwater
semi typically ranges from 7,000- 8,000 long ton.
Along with the move to deeper water, semis were being
equipped with full dynamic-positioning systems, allowing
the rig to stay on location without installing a multi-point
mooring system.
Drillships
The first purpose built “drillship” was the CUSS 1,which was
deployed and drilled her first well in 1956. In March 1961,
when the scientific community was looking for confirmation
of the “Mohorovicic discontinuity” (the boundary between
the earth’s crust and mantle), the MOHO Project was un-
dertaken by the CUSS 1 and successfully recovered a core
of the earth’s crust from 11,000 ft depth in 3,100 ft of water.
The drillship was fitted with four “steerable thrusters” and
used a set of submerged buoys and sonar so that the “pilot”
for operations in water depths to 12,000 ft, with a 40,000-
could visually see his position and manually maintain station
over the well. This was the birth of dynamic positioning.
Over the next half-century, the size and sophistication of
drillships evolved dramatically. Most of the early drillships
used traditional 8-point mooring systems to maintain sta-
tion. If the wind/wave direction were always taken directly
on the bow of the ship, vessel motions would be very good.
However, winds and waves rarely come from the optimum
heading at all times. Because a drillship anchored by an
8-point mooring pattern cannot turn into the weather, the
vessel’s motions became excessive when the weather im-
pacts the ship from the beam. This was a major reason why
the vessel motions of fixed-mooring semisubmersibles were
superior to fixed-mooring drillships.
Today’s drillships are nearly three times the size of the orig-
inal CUSS 1. While conventional mooring is still feasible in
the mid-water depths, dynamically positioned ships must
be used in deepwater. DP systems use a sophisticated ver-
sion of the now-ubiquitous Global Positioning System (GPS).
This has been enhanced with modern acoustic systems that
hear “pingers” which are placed on the ocean floor. This ad-
ditional redundancy, combined with modern software, allow
the drillship to maintain station in up to 70-knot beam seas,
within a offset of only a few feet.
Drillships were the original tool of choice for the drillers, as
they have the largest deck load capacity (VDL) of any of the
rig type designs. While the mid-water semi has a 3,000-
4,000-long ton VDL capacity, a mid-water drillship is on
the order of 8,000-10,000-long ton VDL capacity. When
loading up all the materials to head out to location to drill
a well, this much larger VDL capacity made the drillship the

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RT-10 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS
obvious choice. The oil company operating the well, had to
make fewer trips with supply vessels to replenish the on-
board supplies.
Ultra-deepwater drillships
When the goal is to drill a well in more than 10,000 ft of wa-
ter, the tool of choice is the ultra-deepwater drillship.
Being exclusively dynamically positioned, ultra-deepwater
drillships can maintain station and rotate the ship over the
well center to head the ship into prevailing weather, follow-
ing shifts in wind or wave direction. This minimizes the pitch
and roll motions of these large drillships. The number and
size of the engines and thrusters help determine the ship’s
stationkeeping ability.
Industry has learned from experience that a dynamically po-
sitioned vessel must be able to maintain station in the face of
a 61-knot beam wind. Howard Shatto, considered the father
of dynamic positioning, developed a standard by which a dy-
namic-positioning system is easily gauged. Using the ratio of
80% of available thruster power (i.e., with one of five pow-
er-generating engines down) and dividing that by the force
of a 61-knot beam wind pushing on the vessel results in a di-
mensionless ratio called the HSSC Number (Howard Shatto
Sanity Check). “HSSC” is pronounced “his sick”. (The force
of the 61-knot beam wind depends on rig size and configura-
tion.) This easily derived ratio provided industry with a quick
check on a dynamic-positioning system’s ability to maintain
station in real world events. A HSSC Number greater than
or equal to 1.0 means that the dynamic positioning system
should be able to maintain station. The consequences of be-
ing blown off location are high from both environmental and
economic perspectives. Should an ultra-deepwater rig lose
location, whether due to weather or a DP-system malfunc-
tion, the driller must disconnect the riser from the subsea
BOP, thereby dispersing the riser’s contents along the ocean
floor. Clearly, avoiding such situations is critical.
These tanker-sized ships have very large VDLs to allow
for increased storage of equipment and materials to drill
ultra-deepwater wells. One of the most significant design
goals for this rig type was increased efficiency for all oper-
ations. With the ocean floor nearly 2 miles below the ship’s
hull, standard operations had to become more efficient to
minimize “non-productive time” (NPT). Relatively simple
operations, such as running the BOP and riser to the ocean
floor, can take days, rather than hours on deepwater wells.
As an example of reducing NPT, increasing the length of the
individual riser joints from 50 ft to 75 ft or longer, decreased
the number of time-consuming connections between the
riser joints by one-third or more. In addition, redundancy on
the drill floor allows drillers to run and retrieve the BOP and
riser off the critical path of building the well, which can save
IADC Drilling Manual
days. Some drillers have increased the heights of their der-
ricks to allow “quads” rather than “triples” of drillpipe to be
tripped in and out of the hole. This reduces the number of
connections that must be made up and broken out by about
25%. The drive to increase efficiency and decrease NPT
were among the key design features of modern ultra-deep-
water drillships.
In most modern well construction, both water-based, and
non-aqueous fluids, such as oil-based or synthetic fluids, are
used. When changing over from water-based to non-aque-
ous fluids, fluid storage pits must be cleaned, if limited to
one set of storage pits. Cleaning mud pits also means that
personnel must enter enclosed spaces, which can be a safe-
ty hazard. It’s far more efficient to install two separate fluid
storage systems, allowing fluid switchovers without entering
and cleaning the tanks. With the large VDLs and liquid-stor-
age capacities available on ultra-deepwater vessels, most
drilling contractors have designed their rigs to accommo-
date dual mud systems, eliminating the need to clean tanks
between different sections of the well. Again, this decreases
the NPT and improves safety and efficiency.
The drive into ever-deeper water combined with longer hor-
izontal and directional sections means that more drillpipe
must be used and handled by the rig, resulting in larger loads
for the derrick to handle. Correspondingly, derrick capacities
to support these larger loads have sharply increased. The
old standard of 1.5 million lb gross nominal capacity (GNC)
was insufficient to support the weight of BOP and riser at
ultra-deepwater locations. Derrick’s of today’s ultra-deep-
water drillships boast lifting capacities of 2.5-3.0 million lb
GNC or higher. Derrick configurations have also changed
with the introduction of redundancy on the rig floor to allow
offline activities for increase efficiency and lower NPT. Der-
ricks capable of handling offline running of riser and casing
are becoming standard in today’s ultra-deepwater drill-floor
construction, using a second set of tubular handling equip-
ment (drillpipe, casing, and riser), second drawworks, and
second rotary table. The increased efficiency from this du-
ality of equipment has clearly helped reduce the NPT during
ultra-deepwater well construction.
As hookloads have increased, so has the rating of the trav-
eling equipment in the derricks that carry these loads. The
old standard of 750 short ton traveling equipment soon gave
way to 1,000-ton equipment, and today is pushing toward
capacities of 1,250-1,500 short ton. In addition, drillpipe
capacity for use in ultra-deepwater wells has increased as
well. The old standard 5-in. diameter drillpipe soon gave way
to 5 ½-in. and even 6 ⅝-in. diameter drillpipe. As drillpipe
diameter increased, the length of the individual joints of
drillpipe has generally remained as API Range 2 (27-30 ft),
with some drillers using API Range 3 (38-45 ft) to further
decrease NPT. Handling this drillpipe and combining them
Copyright © 2015

into “stands” of multiple pipes have become more efficient,
as well. Offline stand building has replaced the old standard
of pulling single joints up the V-door to add to the drill string.
Some drillers have used both horizontal and vertical storage
of full drillpipe stands to increase efficiency and options for
tripping drillpipe into and out of the well.
In addition to the change from straight hydraulic control sys-
tems to multiplex (electronic) controls due to the increased
hydrostatic pressure in the ultra-deepwater, the overall rat-
ing of BOPs has increased. In recent years, BOP capacity has
increased from a standard of 10,000 psi to 15,000 psi as
formation pressures increase. Many of the latest deepwater
drillships under construction, are designed for 20,000-psi
BOPs. As discussed earlier, running and retrieving BOPs in
ultra-deepwater can be measured in days rather than hours.
A problem with the BOP or its control system will add days
of NPT, not to mention the time it takes to actually fix the
problem. For this reason, many current ultra-deepwater
drillships being built are designed to accommodate two
complete BOPs on deck. This allows the spare or stand-
by BOP to be completely tested and ready to be deployed,
should a problem develop with the subsea BOP.
Early in the evolution of ultra-deepwater drillships, there
was a perceived need to store crude oil, generated from ex-
tended well testing, onboard the rig. Some of the early de-
signs incorporated the ability to store 300,000-400,000
bbl, or more. However, this crude oil storage and offload-
ing capability has very rarely been used on ultra-deepwater
wells, and current rigs are not being designed and built with
this capability.
However, ultra-deepwater drillships have also been tasked
with erecting, testing and deploying subsea Christmas trees.
These installations are provided for the day when the oil
company returns to produce one of these deepwater wells.
Conclusion
The type of rig to be employed depends on location and ex-
pected well-construction requirements. Whether on land
or in extreme water depths around the world, the push for
increasing personnel safety, decreasing environmental im-
pact, and reducing time to drill and complete the well are the
ultimate factors driving design.
IADC Drilling Manual
TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-11
References
For more detailed information on these and other aspects
of drilling equipment, practices and technology, refer to ad-
ditional chapters of the IADC Drilling Manual and to other
IADC references. Visit www.IADC.org/bookstore or www.
IADC.org/ebookstore. All IADC works are copyright IADC,
all rights reserved.
IADC Drilling Manual chapters
Chapters of the IADC Drilling Manual, 12th edition, are avail-
able as ebooks and within the complete printed manual:
ŸŸ Automation: Overview of automated drilling
operations, impact on rig crew, control and monitoring,
drilling network evolution and examples of automation.
ŸŸ Bits: Discusses bit design, lubrication and pressure
compensation, cutting structures, TSP cutters, nozzle
and plug installation and removal, mechanical specific
energy (MSE), monitoring drill parameters, dull grading
and evaluation, storage, repairs, calculations, safety,
governing standards and guidelines, and more.
ŸŸ Casing and Tubing: Covers casing and tubing handling
and storage on drilling rigs. The chapter covers pipe
types, OCTG materials, corrosion, API casing grades,
OCTG marking, transportation, handling, storage and
running procedures and equipment.
ŸŸ Casing While Drilling: Covers the range of CwD
technology and operations. Topics include both
retrievable and non-retrievable CwD, as well as liner
drilling and retrievable liner drilling.
ŸŸ Cementing: Discusses types of and reasons for
cementing; preparing the well for cementing; job
design, pumping and displacing cement; waiting on
cement and post-job rig operations; cementing strings
and hardware, including casing running tools; cement
evaluation; and conducting safe cementing operations.
ŸŸ Chains and Sprockets: Covers chain construction and
specifications, applicable standards, roller-chain
numbering and dimensions, sprockets, installation,
lubrication and maintenance.
ŸŸ Directional Drilling: Reviews the evolution of
directional drilling, from the earliest days to the present;
magnetic and gyroscopic sensors; essentials of
directional surveying, including anti-collision; defining
subsurface targets; surface considerations; trajectory
design; well profiles; deviation control; bottomhole
assemblies; deflection and measuring tools; bits; and
more.
ŸŸ Downhole Tools: Provides a sweeping discussion of
numerous important downhole tools. Content includes
details on borehole enlargement; circulating subs;
downhole mud motors; air hammers; rotary steerable
systems; vibration, torque and drag; measurement
while drilling; logging while drilling; wireline logging;
and jars.
ŸŸ Drill String: Contains brand new sections on
heavyweight drillpipe, safety valves and accessories,
wired drillpipe and more. Color photographs clearly
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RT-12 TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS
identify common drillpipe problems. Included for the
first time are proprietary drillpipe tables from IADC-
member manufacturers.
ŸŸ Drilling Fluids: Provides general information on drilling
fluids for rig workers and early career professionals.
Covers purpose and functions of drilling fluids; basic
testing and properties; categories, systems and
additives; maintenance, contamination and related
problems; calculations, units conversions and useful
field tables; safety and hazards, regulations, safety data
sheets and labeling; and additional reference materials
for more in-depth studies.
ŸŸ Drilling Fluids Processing: A comprehensive guide to
reducing drilling-fluid and overall well costs through
proper solids-control techniques. Covers dilution,
chemical and mechanical separation, equipment
arrangement,, weighted and unweighted drilling-fluid
processing, screen labeling, shakers, degassers,
hydrocyclones, desilters, desanders, mud cleaners,
centrifuges, lost circulation, sizing mud systems and
steel pits, and much more.
ŸŸ Drilling Hydraulics: Discusses what is covered by the
broad term “hydraulics”, as well as briefly describing
hydraulic-related equipment. Hydraulic parameters,
such as density, viscosity, yield point, rheology models,
flow rate and fluid velocity are covered. Velocity and
circulation rate determinations for both duplex and
triplex pumps are discussed. Applications of hydraulics,
including estimating bottomhole pressure and wellbore
pressure management are covered, as is annular
velocity.
ŸŸ Drilling Practices: A straightforward explanation of the
causes of troublesome drilling problems and how to
avoid and overcome them. Covers bit and drilling
dysfunctions,reaming for hole conditioning, hole
cleaning in directional and horizontal wells ,tripping
practices in horizontal and directional wells, wellbore
stability, lost circulation and more.
ŸŸ Floating Drilling Equipment and Operations: Covers
equipment and procedures specific to floating drilling
operations, with a focus on deepwater. Topics include
stationkeeping, power systems, tubular and marine
riser handling and tensioning, subsea well control,
motion compensation, cargo operations, emergency
disconnects and more.
ŸŸ High Pressure Drilling Hoses: Includes an overview of
hose types, mechanical properties, care and
maintenance, inspection and testing, and a special
section on flexible choke-and-kill hose and flexible
well-test hose.
ŸŸ Lubrication: Discusses wear mechanisms and types of
lubrication. Covers in detail lubrication formulation of
base oils and additives; lubricant properties,
applications, and lubrication programs and practices,
including fluid conditioning, management of change,
storage handling, used oil analysis, and more.
ŸŸ Managed Pressure, Underbalanced and Air/Gas/
Mist/Foam Drilling: A brilliant guide to the key
enabling technologies of managed-pressure,
IADC Drilling Manual
underbalanced and air/gas/mist/foam drilling. Covers
drivers and all variations of MPD, including constant
bottomhole pressure, pressurized mud cap drilling,
continuous circulation devices, dual-gradient and
riserless drilling, deepwater applications of MPD, air
hammer drilling, and more.
ŸŸ Pumps: Entirely rewritten to cover both mud pumps and
centrifugal pumps. Each section is split between the
two types of pumps for easy reference.Provides
descriptions and basic theory, safety and handling,
operations and applications, general maintenance, and
important calculations. Includes a glossary, references,
and new color illustrations and photos.
ŸŸ Power Generation and Distribution: Features the latest
information on emissions standards and regulations. A
brand-new section discusses design, operation and
maintenance of variable-frequency drives.Covers
engines, generators and transmissions, fuels,
installation, operations, shutdown, maintenance,
storage and safety. Power distribution covers DC/DC
and SCR systems, DC drilling motors, SCR (AC/DC)
VFD, and DC/DC, including operations, design, theory
and maintenance.
ŸŸ Rotating and Pipehandling Equipment: Written and
compiled by 26 subject matter experts, the brand-new
Rotating and Pipehandling Equipment chapter covers
the full range of equipment, including operations and
maintenance. Topics include top drives, hoisting and
running in, pipehandling, make up/break out, racking,
auto-handling, tubulars, drawworks, elevators, casing
running tools, power catwalk, manual and power tongs,
instrumentation, maintenance and inspection, and
more.
ŸŸ Special Operations: This new addition to the IADC
Drilling Manual covers tricky operations, including
drilling highly depleted sands, coalbed methane
formations, permafrost, and geothermal wells. Also
discusses solid expandable liner technology and covers
open-hole fishing operations in detail. The fishing
section includes job planning, stuck-pipe mechanisms,
estimating stuck point, string-stretch formula, and
much more, including a review of fishing tools and
techniques.
ŸŸ Structures and Land Rig Mobilization: Describes types
of structures and provides detailed guidance on their
maintenance, inspection, storage and safety. A new,
dedicated section on land rig mobilization addresses
pre-move planning, rigging down, and rigging up. The
section also includes a discussion on rig-walking
systems.
ŸŸ Well Control Equipment and Procedures: Covers the
gamut of well-control equipment and practice, from
equipment to maintenance to procedures for land,
bottom-supported rigs and subsea operations. Updated
with the latest information, this stand-alone chapter
covers blowout preventer stack equipment and
arrangements, BOP design, BOP testing, inside BOPs,
chokes, diverters, control systems and more. The
chapter’s section on well control procedures explains
Copyright © 2015

calculations and more for well killing. As an added
bonus, the chapter includes the latest IADC Killsheets
for Driller’s Method, Wait and Weight (surface and
subsea) and Bullheading Method. Each killsheet
conveniently provided in US, metric and SI units.
ŸŸ Wire Rope: Details the key information needed by rig
personnel to properly use and maintain wire rope, with
emphasis on obtaining the maximum safe life from the
drilling line. Shows how to select the proper size and
type line to meet requirements, maintain and care for
the line to prevent damage, compute service in
Ton-Miles, and choose a cut-off program best suiting
conditions. Includes numerous example calculations.
appendix.
ŸŸ Appendix with Glossary: Fully updated to define
today’s industry terms, the IADC Glossary glossary
provides guidance about common and not-so-common
acronyms, abbreviations and terms.
IADC Deepwater Well Control Guidelines
The 2nd edition of the IADC Deepwater Well Control
Guidelines includes new content on operational risk man-
agement, sometimes called process safety, with additional
new and refreshed content on well integrity, well planning,
rig operations, equipment, procedures, training and drills,
and emergency response. The year-long project was led by
Louis Romo, BP, Chairman of the Deepwater Well Control
Guidelines Task Force, and Moe Plaisance, DODI, Executive
Advisor, with support from nearly 100 top-level experts.
The aim of the guidelines is to facilitate safe and efficient
deepwater drilling operations. This important publication
provides guidance for maintaining primary well control, ap-
plying secondary well control methods and responding to an
emergency in the event of a blowout. Each chapter is intend-
ed to facilitate the rig team’s primary task of maintaining and
optimizing control of the well.
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TYPES OF DRILLING RIGS RT-13
Six chapters tackle the following vital information, key to
maximizing safety and efficiency in subsea rig operations.
ŸŸ Operational Risk Management and Well Integrity
(James Hebert, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc,
chairman): Barrier installation and maintenance for the
life of the well;
ŸŸ Well Planning and Rig Operations (Brian Tarr, Shell,
chairman): Relevance of well planning and well design
to well control;
ŸŸ Equipment (Peter Bennett, Pacific Drilling, chairman):
Typical well control equipment used on floating drilling
rigs;
ŸŸ Procedures (Earl Robinson, Murphy Oil Corp,
chairman): Kick prevention, detection and mitigation to
maintain/regain control.
ŸŸ Training and Drills (Benny Mason, Rig QA
International, chairman): Planning, conducting and
continuously improving deepwater well control training
and drills;
ŸŸ Emergency Response (John Garner, Booths and Coots,
chairman): Activities and resources to manage a well
control emergency.
The IADC Deepwater Guidelines also include an appendix
defining important acronyms and terms.
IADC Health, Safety and Environmental
Reference Guide
The redesigned IADC Health, Safety and Environmental
Reference Guide contains all the necessary guidelines for
establishing a sound safety program, and includes valu-
able information on safe working practices. The redesigned
IADC Health, Safety and Environmental Reference Guide is
printed in full color with updated illustrations.
Copyright © 2015