Ocean Traveler was a

drilling platform A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill wat ...

built in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and used in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. In 1966, it was transferred to

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...

for the first exploration wells on the Norwegian continental shelf in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, following the Dutch discovery of

Groningen gas field The Groningen gas field is a natural gas field in Groningen province in the northeastern part of the Netherlands. With an estimated 2,740 billion cubic metres of recoverable natural gas it is the largest natural gas field in Europe and one of t ...

in 1959. On 16 July 1966, the platform did a limited discovery in the North Sea, in a block that much later became the discovery place of the Balder Field. Ocean Traveler had big problems with the weather conditions in the North Sea, the weather being much tougher in the North Sea than the areas off the southern coast of the United States. These experiences laid the foundation for the sister platforms, especially the Norwegian-built "Ocean Viking", which had a significantly strengthened structure.

References

Ocean Traveler - first drilling platform on the Norwegian continental shelf
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Odyssey Of The Ocean Traveler
History of the petroleum industry in Norway Oil platforms