Ninian Central – Glowing at Twilight
The Ninian Central Platform is located in the North Sea. It was built in Loch Kishorn, Scotland in 1978. At a colossal 600,000 tonnes the platform was the world’s largest man-made movable object before being towed to its current position and fixed to the sea floor.
It is a circular concrete gravity structure, 140 m in diameter at its base, with seven concentric walls of stepped heights intersected by radial walls at 45-degree angles. A 14 m wide central shaft is surrounded by a breakwater wall (“Jarlin Wall”) 45 m in diameter and 1.6 m thick pierced with 15m diameter holes. Between these two walls drill slots are arranged for drilling up to 42 wells.
Originally, Ninian Central was operated by Chevron Petroleum (UK), a division of Chevron, it is currently operated by CNR International.
In this rendition the platform is bathed in orange and yellow light. It represents the rig seen at twilight on a calm summers evening.