Oil Rig Risers (BP)

A National STEM Learning Centre and Network Engineering Case Studies resource investigating recovery techniques used in the oil and gas industry and their potential environmental impact.

We need more oil and gas, but at what cost to the environment or to the safety of those extracting it?

Oil and gas reserves are becoming scarcer and harder to find. Recovery techniques are becoming more complicated as oil companies have to drill in the deepest oceans: more dangerous work conditions and potential harm to the environment if things go wrong.

Sometimes it can be the simplest things going wrong that lead to disasters like the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion. This is an example of engineers using science to develop riser technology now used around the world in drilling. Risers are the long pipes leading from the sea bed to the rig which are subjected to enormous stress.