We humans have a big dependency on oil. And with such big dependency comes big construction. Although there are thousands of oil rigs around the planet, the Berkut oil rig is currently the largest, standing 472 feet (144 metres, or roughly equivalent to a 50-floor building) and weighing over 200,000 tons (181,436 tonnes). This monster of a machine can slurp up 4.5 million tons (4 million tonnes) of crude oil in a year. To boot, it’s been constructed to handle some of the harshest subarctic conditions, such as temperatures of −47° Fahrenheit (−44° Celsius), or a wall of ice 6.5 feet (2 metres) thick. In theory, it can also survive a magnitude 9 earthquake and a 52-foot (15.8-metre) wave. President Vladimir Putin was on hand (via video link) for the platform’s opening in June 2014. He commented, “Thanks to projects like Berkut, we can now utilize richer—but difficult-to-access—oil fields, open up new production, and overall strengthen the socioeconomic development of our country’s most important region: the Far East.” And to that I comment, “Boo.”
The Berkut oil rig is a “gravity-based structure,” which means that the concrete legs are directly anchored into the seafloor. The main platform contains mud pumps, drilling equipment, compressors, generators, firefighting equipment, pedestal cranes, and even living quarters.
Berkut was a group effort. (Which certainly makes a $12 billion project easier on the wallet.) The oil is shared between America, Japan, Russia, and India.
Working on an offshore oil rig is no bed of roses—after all, you are stuck on a platform in the ocean. However, wages are often around $300 per day, with annual salaries at approximately $47,000. During the off-season, you can spend all your earnings on gas for your car.
