Admire the largest drilling rig in human history

With a pulling capacity of up to 1.2 million tons, 472m high and a specific weight of 650,000 tons, Troll A is one of the most massive structures in human history .

Off the west coast of Norway lies one of the largest and most complex engineering projects in human history. Not only that, the Troll A natural gas drilling rig is also the largest object ever moved by humans on the surface of the Earth.

With a submerged ballast buoy volume of up to 1.2 million tons, a height of 472 m, a concrete height below the sea surface of up to 369 m and a dry weight of 656,000 tons, Troll A is a majestic masterpiece of design. and build.

The Troll A rig was a television sensation when vehicles towed it into the North Sea in 1996, where Statoil was operating it.

Normally, the rig legs will be transported separately by a floating device on the sea surface, and after arriving, everything will be reassembled.

But in the case of Troll A, workers and engineers installed the entire rig in the village of Vats in the Rogaland region, Norway and then dragged it over a distance of more than 200km to land it in an area of ​​sea about 80km from the city of Bergen. to the northwest. The rig pulling process takes place in 7 days.

The distance from the surface of the rig to the sea surface is 303m and there is a giant cylinder with an elevator installed inside. According to estimates, it takes more than 9 minutes to move from the top of the rig to the bottom. Surrounding the elevator is a reinforced concrete wall more than 1 meter thick to protect it.

In 1996, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Troll A as the largest offshore gas drilling rig on the planet. However, currently that title belongs to the Petronius rig in the Gulf of Mexico located 610 meters above the ocean floor.

According to estimates, Troll A cost approximately 650 million USD when it was built in September 1991.