Saudi Arabia has a new extreme project: a hotel on oil platforms, to “celebrate” the country’s gas heritage. Despite promises regarding respect for the environment, The Rig promises to be anything but ecological.
After the dystopian city The Line; Trojena, the ski resort in the desert; the floating city of Oxagon; or the giant cube of The Mukaad, Saudi Arabia has a new disproportionate project: The Rig, a tourist center built on oil platforms. Announced in 2021 by the Saudi government, the overall plan of the project was unveiled on January 17, 2024 and new details on the structure have since been published regularly.
These suggest a gigantic and excessive project: The Rig is installed on 4 oil platforms, over an area of 300,000 square meters, welcoming hotels, restaurants, cinema, water park, kart track, amusement park, and even a big Wheel. The place will be able to accommodate several hundred thousand people by 2032, according to the developers. The project, which intends “ celebrating the legacy and heritage of Saudi Arabia’s long oil and gas history », risks being particularly harmful to the environment.
What is The Rig?
What exactly is The Rig? According to the platform’s website, it is a “ epic offshore destination, in the heart of the Persian Gulf. This is not a theme park, but an extreme destination, a whole new playground for adventure tourism. » Concretely, The Rig is made up of 4 buildings, named “The Moonpool”, “The Derrick”, “The Riser” and “The Jackup”, all accompanied by a marina, which can accommodate 50 boats.
Full details about the buildings have not yet been made public, but the X account (formerly Twitter) of The Rig regularly posts new photos and information.
- The Moonpoolwhich will have 3 restaurants, including below sea level, a 5-star hotel, an aquatic activity center, and a diving center.
- The Riser is to host a water park, 4 restaurants, a 4-star hotel, an “adventure park”, a wave pool, a zip line and a bungee jumping area.
- The Jackupwhich will offer an “immersive theater” and a helipad.
- The Derrickthe largest platform, which will have 4 restaurants, a performance hall that can accommodate up to 6,000 people, an amusement park with roller coasters, a 5-star hotel, a children’s center and a suspended restaurant.
A complex built by oil companies
Of course, The Rig promises to be an eco-friendly project. Its website explains that “ the project’s commitment to environmental protection is at the top of the priority list ”, and that The Rig will “ maximize positive impact on the environment ” And ” operate responsibly. »
However, we can doubt the sincerity of these ecological commitments. Indeed, The Rig is not really a project for the repurposing of old oil platforms: only The Jackup is presented as a disused and repurposed platform. The Rig website also specified that the project also consisted of platforms “ newly built » in its FAQ — and it goes without saying that the construction of such buildings is an ecological disaster for the surrounding area.
Additionally, oil companies are working on The Rig project. In May 2022, the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, launched a call for tenders “ from oil and gas companies around the world to create a $5 billion oil rig theme park » —The Rig.
A gigantic hotel complex for “ celebrate » the Saudi oil industry, built by oil companies: The Rig has everything to be a new ecological disaster, like other projects carried out by Saudi Arabia.
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