1999 Technology Pioneers

Drilling (Mobile Drilling Units)

Drillships (Moored Vessels)

Early drillships were moored on location using 4 to 8 mooring lines leading to anchors or preset buoys. In 1963, the industry developed a design which permitted the drillship to rotate 360 degrees around an integral turret so it could always head into the seas thus reducing rolling motion.

The evolution of moored drillships follows:

Year	Vessel	Company	Location	Remarks
1956	Submarex	CUSS Group	California	Over-the-side coring rig
1956	Wn. Explorer	Standard Oil	California	Center mounted coring rig
1956	CUSS I	CUSS Group	California	Full oilwell capability with center moon pool
1957	D-1	The Offshore Co.	Gulf of Paria	1st oil discovery from a floating vessel
1959	NOLA 1 NOLA 2 NOLA 3	Zapata Offshore	Gulf of Mexico	Converted YF Barges with over-the-side catilever rigs
1962	Glomar II	Global Marine Inc.	Cook Inlet	1st new construction purpose-built drillship
1962	C. P. Baker	Reading & Bates	Gulf of Mexico	Catamaran formed by joining two YF hulls
1963	Discoverer I	The Offshore Co.	Gulf of Mexico	1st center turret mooring system

Recognizing the pioneering efforts of the following people and companies who contributed to the development of this technology:

CUSS Group [Continental Oil Co. (Conoco), Union Oil Co. (Unocal), The Superior Oil Co. (ExxonMobil) and Shell Oil Co. - Robert Bauer and A. J. Field.
Global Marine Inc. (GlobalSantaFe) - John R. Graham.
The Offshore Company (Transocean Inc.) - F. "Tim" Pease, George T. Richardson, George M. Savage, and Joe Scruggs.
Reading & Bates (Transocean Inc.) - George Temple
Standard Oil of California (ChevronTexaco) - Glen Schurman and Ken Nicholsen
Zapata Offshore Co. (Diamond Offshore) - George H. W. Bush

2011 Call for Nominations

2011 Industry Pioneer Nomination Form

2011 Technology Pioneer Nomination Form

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