This Day in History (1977): Rig of the Year

From the Jan. 26, 1977, edition of The Arabian Sun

Lofco's Orville Fisher drilled and completed 28 wells (22% of the total 126 wells drilled in 1976) to win the top position of the year in the drilling competition.

Running a close second for 1976 was Aramco Rig U-1, with less than one day separating it from the winner. The U-1, completing 18 wells (15% of the total drilling effort), also placed first in the fourth quarter, first in October, and second in November.

In third place was Santa Fe rig 94, finishing 24 days ahead of target. The Santa Fe rig placed second in the fourth quarter, first in November, second in October, and third in December.

Arabian Drilling Company Rig 3 placed third in the fourth quarter and first in December.

Santa Fe 102 was named the outstanding exploratory rig of the year, and the Aramco DP-2 rig was the top exploratory rig in the fourth quarter.

Caption for top photo: Lofco's Orville Fisher rig won the top position of the year in the 1976 drilling game competition. The photo above was taken on location in the Zuluf field. From left are Ben Kearny, Offshore Drilling and Workover superintendent; Roy Elliston, Lofco's rig superintendent; Mike Phillips, Aramco Drilling foreman; driller Don Janise and his Saudi drilling crew.

Also on this date

2020 — Basketball star Kobe Bryant dies when the helicopter he and his daughter Gianna are traveling in crashes in southern California

2009 — Nadya Suleman gives birth to the world's first surviving octuplets

1998 — On television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky

1991 — Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia

1979 — Former U.S. vice president and businessman Nelson Rockefeller dies at age 70 in New York

1966 — The three Beaumont children disappear from a beach in Glenelg, South Australia, sparking one of the country's largest-ever police investigations. The case remains unsolved.

1952 — Rioters burn Cairo’s central business district in Black Saturday protests against the British and upper-class Egyptian business owners

1934 — Baseball player, sportscaster, and actor Bob Uecker is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1926 — John Logie Baird provides the first demonstration of the television

1905 — The largest diamond ever, the Cullinan, is found near Pretoria, South Africa, weighing in at 3,106.75 carats

1861 — Louisiana secedes from the Union

1841 — James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island, establishing British Hong Kong

1808 — The Rum Rebellion armed takeover of the government in New South Wales succeeds, albeit briefly

1699 — For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian Powers, ending Ottoman control in much of Central Europe after four centuries of expansion