Below The Seabed –
Spudding in subsea production systems

An offshore oil or gas field may have several production platforms, each connected to twenty or thirty wells. Spudding in refers to the initiation of a drilling well to extract oil and gas. The development involves extensive exploration, using drilling rigs or drill ships, seabed surveys, the laying of pipelines to a shore base, the installation of platforms and further drilling to complete the wells. Once a viable field has been located and tested by drilling a series of wells, drilling is continued to prepare the field for production. Wells are drilled from rigs and from the production platforms. Each well is controlled at the wellhead by a collection of valves, known by its appearance as a Christmas tree.