A photographic print of Industry, Fuel & Power, Oil - Including Gas - From Sea Bed, North Sea Explorations

TWO RIGS FOR B. P. 'S NORTH SEA OIL DRILLING. G.10589 22.10.1964. By RONALD BEDFORD, Science Editor A £2million order for a giant drilling platform to probe for "black gold" gas and oil deposits beneath the North Sea has been placed in Britain. Harland and Wolff of Belfast, have got the contract, the British Petroleum Company announced yesterday. Delivery will be early in 1966. The new platform, with the drilling rig erected, will stand 320ft. tall. It will have a triangular deck. Each side will be more than 100yds. long. Stable A BP spokesman said yesterday: "The platform will provide air-conditioned accomodation for 60 people." It will have a helicopter landing deck, plant to turn sea water into fresh water, and a complex telecom- munications and navigational warning system. "The platform will operate anywhere in the North Sea, and be one of the biggest installations of its kind in the world." It will be able to drill down to 20,000ft., and can operate either by resting on the seabed or as a floating rig, stable in all seas. Next year, a smaller drilling platform, now being converted, will start drilling operations about 40 miles east of the Humber. An artist's impression of the giant drilling. Industry - Oil - From the Sea Bed - North Sea