Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This documentary reveals the technological leaps forward that allowed the world’s deepest floating oil platform, the Perdido spar in the Gulf of Mexico, to be built. At a water depth of about 2.5 kilometres, operated by the Shell Oil Company, the platform is located in the Perdido fold belt which is a rich discovery of crude oil and natural gas. This floating factory is capable of drilling in any direction, and in depths of up to 3 kilometres below the sea floor. At maximum production it processes 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
The film explores how this groundbreaking structure was made possible through a series of six engineering breakthroughs. Six landmark oil rigs, including the Beryl Alpha platform, each feature a major technological innovation that allowed oil platforms to be built and survive in ever deeper waters. Using computer generated animation we reveal the incredible stories behind these structures and the inventions that have driven them deeper. Six ingenious leaps forward that enabled oil platforms to evolve from DEEP, to DEEPER, into the world’s DEEPEST!
00:00 Introduction
02:47 Water – Grand Lake
09:54 Foundation – Grand Isle
17:39 Standing Firm – Beryl Alpha
27:52 Assembly – Cognac
38:00 Buoyancy – Auger
44:50 Fire – Perdido
Episode from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.
Subscribe to Element 18 – bit.ly/337R2uO
This documentary reveals the technological leaps forward that allowed the world’s deepest floating oil platform, the Perdido spar in the Gulf of Mexico, to be built. At a water depth of about 2.5 kilometres, operated by the Shell Oil Company, the platform is located in the Perdido fold belt which is a rich discovery of crude oil and natural gas. This floating factory is capable of drilling in any direction, and in depths of up to 3 kilometres below the sea floor. At maximum production it processes 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
The film explores how this groundbreaking structure was made possible through a series of six engineering breakthroughs. Six landmark oil rigs, including the Beryl Alpha platform, each feature a major technological innovation that allowed oil platforms to be built and survive in ever deeper waters. Using computer generated animation we reveal the incredible stories behind these structures and the inventions that have driven them deeper. Six ingenious leaps forward that enabled oil platforms to evolve from DEEP, to DEEPER, into the world’s DEEPEST!
00:00 Introduction
02:47 Water – Grand Lake
09:54 Foundation – Grand Isle
17:39 Standing Firm – Beryl Alpha
27:52 Assembly – Cognac
38:00 Buoyancy – Auger
44:50 Fire – Perdido
Episode from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.
Subscribe to Element 18 – bit.ly/337R2uO
