Offshore Oil Platform Map: AI-Detected Structures from the Persian Gulf, North Sea and Beyond
This interactive offshore oil platform map displays AI-detected offshore oil and gas structures worldwide, sourced from Global Fishing Watch‘s SAR Fixed Infrastructure dataset. Covering detections from 2017 to 2025, the map reveals the full global footprint of offshore oil and gas infrastructure: the dense platform fields of the Persian Gulf across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq and Iran; the mature North Sea basins of Norway and the United Kingdom; the deepwater fields of West Africa off Nigeria and Angola; Southeast Asian production hubs in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam; and emerging frontiers in Brazil, Guyana and the Caspian Sea.
How to Use This Map
Filtering by Detection Confidence
Use the High, Medium, and Low checkboxes to filter platforms by AI detection confidence. High-confidence detections have radar signatures that closely match known oil and gas platform geometry. Low-confidence detections are included for completeness but may include other fixed marine structures. The platform count updates as you change filters.
Clicking Individual Platforms
Click any marker to open a popup showing confidence level, first detection date, last detection date, duration in days, and coordinates. Platforms still appearing in the most recent dataset update show “Still active.”
Sharing a View
The Share button copies a URL encoding the current map position, zoom, and confidence filter state — useful for sharing a specific basin or field area with colleagues.
Offshore Oil and Gas by Region
Persian Gulf: The World’s Most Concentrated Offshore Oil Province
The Persian Gulf — also called the Arabian Gulf — contains the highest density of offshore oil and gas platforms anywhere on Earth. Zoom into the Gulf on the map and the scale becomes immediately apparent: thousands of AI-detected structures spanning the shallow waters between six major producing nations.
Saudi Arabia dominates the western Gulf. Saudi Aramco operates the Safaniya field, the world’s largest offshore oil field, along with the Zuluf and Marjan fields, all visible as dense platform clusters off the Eastern Province coast. Safaniya alone has produced oil since 1957 and remains one of the most significant offshore assets in history.
Kuwait operates the Khafji and Hout fields shared with Saudi Arabia, along with the Umm Namil and Luhais fields. Iraq‘s offshore production is concentrated near the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the northern tip of the Gulf.
Iran holds major offshore fields across the Gulf including Salman (shared with the UAE as Abu Al Bukhoosh), Rostam, Sirri, and the giant South Pars/North Dome gas structure shared with Qatar — the world’s largest natural gas reservoir by reserves.
Qatar‘s North Field dominates its offshore production, making Qatar one of the world’s top LNG exporters. The UAE operates major offshore fields through ADNOC including Umm Shaif, Lower Zakum, Upper Zakum (one of the world’s largest offshore fields), and Nasr. Bahrain operates the smaller offshore Bahrain Field and imports crude from the Abu Safah field shared with Saudi Arabia.
North Sea: Norway and the UK
The North Sea has been one of the world’s most intensively developed offshore oil and gas provinces since the 1970s. Norway‘s continental shelf hosts some of the most productive fields in the basin: Troll (the largest gas field on the Norwegian shelf), Johan Sverdrup (the biggest North Sea discovery in decades, producing since 2019), Statfjord, Gullfaks, Ekofisk, and Snorre. The Norwegian sector stretches from the southern North Sea up through the Norwegian Sea to the Barents Sea.
The United Kingdom‘s North Sea sector includes the historic Brent and Forties fields, along with Buzzard, Clair (west of Shetland), and the Shetland Gas Plant infrastructure. UK North Sea production has declined significantly since its 1999 peak but hundreds of platforms remain operational.
Denmark operates fields in the central North Sea through Nordsøfonden, while the Netherlands has both offshore gas fields in the Dutch sector and major onshore gas production from the Groningen field.
West Africa: Nigeria, Angola and the Gulf of Guinea
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, with offshore production concentrated in the shallow Niger Delta shelf and deepwater blocks in the Gulf of Guinea. Major deepwater fields include Bonga (Shell, Nigeria’s first deepwater development), Agbami (Chevron), Egina (Total), and Preowei. The deepwater pre-salt trend has attracted significant investment from international oil companies.
Angola is the second-largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa. Production is dominated by deepwater pre-salt blocks operated by TotalEnergies, ENI, BP and Equinor, with Block 17 and Block 18 being among the most prolific. The Kaombo, Pazflor, CLOV and Girassol FPSOs are significant deepwater assets visible as isolated structures in deeper waters.
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo all have offshore production visible in the map’s Gulf of Guinea coverage.
Ghana‘s Jubilee field, discovered in 2007 and developed jointly by Tullow Oil, Aker Energy and partners, was one of the largest deepwater discoveries in West Africa and helped establish Ghana as an oil producer.
Gulf of Mexico: US and Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most heavily instrumented offshore basins in the world, with thousands of platforms spanning shallow shelf fields off Louisiana and Texas through to ultra-deepwater structures in the Mississippi Canyon and Keathley Canyon areas. For a dedicated interactive map of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas infrastructure including wells, pipelines and production platforms, see our Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Infrastructure Map.
On the Mexican side, Pemex operates extensive shallow-water infrastructure in the Campeche Sound, including the Cantarell complex — once the world’s second-largest oil field — and the Ku-Maloob-Zaap development that replaced it as Mexico’s primary production hub.
Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei
Malaysia is Southeast Asia’s second-largest oil producer. Petronas operates offshore fields off the coasts of Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, including deepwater blocks in the Deepwater Sarawak basin. The Kikeh field was Malaysia’s first deepwater development.
Indonesia has one of the oldest offshore oil industries in Asia, with production spread across the Java Sea, the Makassar Strait and the Natuna Sea. The Handil, Attaka and Mahakam fields in East Kalimantan were major production centres for decades.
Vietnam‘s offshore oil production is centred on the Cuu Long and Nam Con Son basins off the south coast, with fields including Bach Ho (White Tiger), the first major Vietnamese offshore discovery, and Rang Dong. Brunei has operated offshore fields in the South China Sea since the 1960s through Brunei Shell Petroleum.
Thailand produces from fields in the Gulf of Thailand, and Myanmar has both onshore and shallow offshore production.
Caspian Sea: Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan
The Caspian Sea is a landlocked basin with some of the oldest oil production infrastructure on Earth. Azerbaijan‘s Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) complex in the Azerbaijan sector is operated by bp and its partners and is one of the largest producing fields in the former Soviet Union. The Shah Deniz gas field is a major gas source for the Southern Gas Corridor to Europe.
Kazakhstan‘s Kashagan field in the northern Caspian — operated by the North Caspian Operating Company — is one of the largest oil discoveries of the past 40 years. The extreme operating conditions of the shallow, ice-prone northern Caspian have made it one of the most technically challenging offshore developments in history.
South America: Brazil and Guyana
Brazil has transformed its position in global oil markets through the development of pre-salt deepwater fields in the Santos and Campos basins off the southeast coast. Petrobras operates the Lula (formerly Tupi), Buzios, Sapinhoa, and Libra fields, producing from reservoirs 5–7 km below the seabed beneath a thick salt layer. Brazil is now one of the world’s top ten oil producers.
Guyana has emerged as a major new oil province following ExxonMobil’s discovery of the Stabroek Block in 2015. The Liza, Payara and Yellowtail developments have made Guyana one of the fastest-growing oil producers in the world, with FPSOs operating in deep water off the country’s coast.
India and Australia
India‘s offshore production is dominated by ONGC’s Mumbai High complex in the Arabian Sea, which has produced since 1976 and remains India’s largest oil and gas field. The Krishna Godavari (KG) basin off the east coast hosts deepwater gas production.
Australia‘s offshore oil and gas industry spans the North West Shelf (Carnarvon Basin) — home to major LNG trains operated by Woodside — the Browse Basin, the Timor Sea (Bayu-Undan, Ichthys LNG), and the Gippsland Basin off Victoria in the Bass Strait.
About the Data
This map uses the Global Fishing Watch SAR Fixed Infrastructure dataset, which applies machine learning to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery to detect fixed structures at sea. The model classifies structures as wind infrastructure, oil and gas platforms, or unknown fixed structures. This map shows only structures classified as oil and gas platforms. Detections are updated monthly and cover 2017 to 2025.
SAR imagery penetrates cloud cover and works day or night, making it well suited to monitoring offshore infrastructure in remote or frequently overcast locations. The dataset is global in scope, though detection completeness may vary by region depending on SAR acquisition frequency.
For authoritative offshore oil and gas data by jurisdiction, cross-reference with the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, or Wood Mackenzie.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country has the most offshore oil platforms?
Based on this dataset, the Persian Gulf nations — particularly Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE and Kuwait — collectively account for the highest regional density of offshore oil and gas platforms. The United States Gulf of Mexico has a very large absolute number of structures, many of them small shallow-water platforms on the continental shelf.
What is the world’s largest offshore oil field?
The Safaniya field in Saudi Arabia, operated by Saudi Aramco, is widely considered the world’s largest offshore oil field by reserves and production capacity. It is located in the northern Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province and has been producing since 1957.
What is SAR and how does it detect oil platforms?
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) uses microwave radar pulses to image the Earth’s surface regardless of cloud cover or lighting conditions. Offshore oil and gas platforms are large metal structures that create very bright, distinctive radar returns in SAR imagery. Machine learning models trained on known platform locations can reliably identify these structures across global SAR archives.
Can I see offshore platforms in a specific country or basin?
Yes. Navigate the map to any offshore basin to explore its platform footprint. Key regions to explore include the Persian Gulf, the Norwegian and UK sectors of the North Sea, the Niger Delta and Gulf of Guinea, the Gulf of Mexico, the South China Sea, and the Santos Basin off Brazil.
Why do some platforms show low confidence?
Low-confidence detections have radar signatures that are ambiguous — they may be oil and gas platforms, but could also be other fixed marine structures such as fish aggregating devices, navigational aids, or aquaculture installations. Include or exclude them using the confidence filter in the map toolbar.
How often is the data updated?
The Global Fishing Watch SAR Fixed Infrastructure dataset is updated monthly. Recently installed platforms or decommissioned structures may take a month or more to be reflected.
Is this map useful for oil and gas industry research?
The map is well suited to exploratory spatial analysis: understanding the geographic distribution of offshore infrastructure, identifying active versus inactive structures, and comparing regional production footprints. For commercial due diligence, field-level production data, or regulatory information, authoritative sources from national regulators and industry data providers should be used.
