earth science

Mr. Louie

Mr. Louie is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mr. Louie rather than just read about it. In short: Mr. Louie is a former self-elevating drilling barge (jackup rig) converted into an oil platform.

Key takeaways

Mr. Louie belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mr. Louie to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mr. Louie from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mr. Louie is a former self-elevating drilling barge (jackup rig) converted into an oil platform. It was the first self-elevating drilling barge classed by the American Bureau of Shipping. As an oil platform, it operates at the Saltpond Oil Field, offshore Ghana.

Description Mr. Louie weighs 6200 tons. Its minimal operational water depth is 40 metres (130 ft). It has five tugs which pulled her around, and twelve legs for standing on the seabed. It has rings welded onto its cylindrical legs to provide a positive jack connection. Its footing equivalent diameter is 6.7 metres (22 ft), and approximate footing load is 10 meganewtons (2,200,000 lbf).

History Mr Louie was designed by Emile Brinkmann between 1956 and 1958. The drilling barge was built by Universal Drilling Co. It was launched in 1958 and delivered in 1959. In 1958, Mr. Louie became the first self-elevating drilling barge classed by the American Bureau of Shipping. In 1959, it was leased to Reading & Bates (now part of Transocean). The rig was valued by the leasing contract at US$4.75 million. This transaction was later challenged by the United States tax authorities as a sale agreement. In 1965, the barge was sold pursuant to contractual option to Reading & Bates. Mr. Louie first drilled at the Gulf of Mexico, where it drilled more than 40 wells. Later it was transferred to the North Sea. In 1963, while drilling on the German Bight, a pocket of very high pressure carbon dioxide struck the well, causing a blowout. The blowout created a 400-metre (1,300 ft) wide and 31-metre (102 ft) deep crater called Figge-Maar. In May 1964, Mr. Louie drilled the first offshore hole in the North Sea, 30 miles (48 km) off of Juist island. In June, it made the first North Sea gas discovery. Later it was used for natural gas exploration in the UK section of the North Sea. In 1967, Mr. Louie was a part of the unique action for that time when for the first time in the North Sea, it went to dock for reparations and maintenance and was replaced by another rig (Orion) during the drilling. After the structural repairs and maintenance work at Bremerhaven, Mr. Louie continued drilling at the North Sea for the Gas Council – Amoco group. After the North Sea, Mr. Louie was moved to West Africa. In 1969, it passed through Gibraltar. Temporary moorings were needed and their setting into the rocky floor of Gibraltar Bay required the use of the Edwardian air lock diving-bell plant to work at depth. Between 1977 and 1978 it drilled six appraisal wells at the Saltpond Oil Field in offshore Ghana. After completing the drilling in 1978, Mr. Louie was converted into an oil platform at this field. It was officially renamed APG-1.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mr. Louie

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mr. Louie claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mr. Louie before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mr. Louie ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mr. Louie

In research: Mr. Louie appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mr. Louie in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mr. Louie is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 ships, Jackup rigs, Oil platforms, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mr. Louie outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mr. Louie in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mr. Louie means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mr. Louie out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mr. Louie in simple terms?

Mr. Louie is a former self-elevating drilling barge (jackup rig) converted into an oil platform.

Why does Mr. Louie matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mr. Louie?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mr. Louie.