Interesting Facts about Oil and Gas
- The first recorded use of pipelines to transport natural gas was in 500 BC, in China. The pipelines were made of bamboo and used to boil sea water and separate the salt from the water.
- TIME magazine dubbed the Hibernia platform, a Canadian offshore oil field, as the “eighth wonder of the world.” It is the largest object to ever be towed, at 1.2 million tons.
- Deepest offshore oil and gas platform
Currently the deepest oil and gas production and drilling platform in the world, Perdido established first commercial production from a new geological frontier in the Gulf of Mexico, the Lower Tertiary/Paleogene, by applying innovation to tackle challenges such as extreme water depth, rugged seafloor terrain, and low-temperature and low-pressure reservoirs.
- Most expensive energy project
Kashagan is one of the largest oil discoveries of the last 40 years, and one of the largest industrial operations currently under development worldwide. The project cost was $116 billion.
The field lies in a remote corner of Central Asia, in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, making logistics a challenge. The oil will need to be moved out by a series of interconnecting rail lines, pipelines and ships.
Harsh weather is also a problem. The northern Caspian is frozen for nearly half the year. To successfully tap oil and gas in the ice-choked region, the companies involved are constructing a series of artificial islands from which to work.