In Galveston, Texas, the Ocean Star is a retired jack-up drilling rig preserved as a museum devoted to the offshore oil and gas industry. Built in 1969 in Beaumont for the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company fleet, it later worked in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas and Louisiana, drilling about 200 wells. After retirement, the Offshore Energy Center acquired the rig, converted it over two years, and opened it to the public on April 27, 1997. Using the rig itself as an exhibit space, the museum interprets offshore drilling technology, equipment, and the people and innovations that helped take the industry offshore, preserving an important piece of Gulf Coast industrial history.

Galveston, Texas · USA