This Day in History (1977): New Cantilever Design Rig Goes into Offshore Service

From the June 8, 1977, edition of The Arabian Sun

A new offshore drilling jack-up rig went into service for Aramco last week that features a mobile drilling floor that can be cantilevered out over the wells.

Built for Aramco in Denmark by Pool International, the three-legged jack-up rig can operate in depth from eight to 160 feet and drill to a depth of 12,000 feet. The right’s entire drilling floor can be moved eight feet to port or starboard and as much as 48 feet aft of the transom to position it precisely over a well to be worked over. Only about 10 rigs in the world feature this cantilever design.

The platform, which provides living, dining, and recreation facilities for 61 men, is towed from location to location by supply boats. Once in position with its legs down, the jacking system can support up to 6,000 tons -- double the rig's normal gross weight.

Caption for the top photo: A new offshore jack-up rig, which features a cantilever drilling floor, is now working for Aramco.

Also on this date

2018 — American chef and travel TV personality Anthony Bourdain dies after hanging himself in an Alsace hotel

2004 — The first Venus Transit since 1882 takes place

1995 — Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia

1992 — The first World Oceans Day is celebrated

1977 — American rapper and fashion designer Kanye West is born in Atlanta

1968 — James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., is arrested at Heathrow Airport in London

1959 — The USS Barbero and the U.S. Postal Service attempt to deliver mail via Missile Mail

1949 — George Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four is published

1929 — Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labor. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom

1887 — Herman Hollerith applies for U.S. patent No. 395,781 for the Art of Compiling Statistics, which was his punched card calculator

1783 — Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption that kills more than 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine