Blowout Preventer News

Esgian reports rig-related updates from Dolphin Drilling, Diamond Offshore, and Seadrill in its Week 9 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report Outline:ContractsDespite Tullow Oil’s recent announcement that it would take a break from drilling offshore Ghana, Noble Corp. has stated that there has been no contract termination announcement and that its 12,000-ft drillship Noble Venturer is currently still contracted to Tullow into March 2025.Masirah Oil Ltd has signed a rig contract with…

Marijana Sosic, Manager, Technical Marketing at Transocean, discusses some of the outstanding features of the Deepwater Atlas – Built in Singapore at Sembcorp Marine's Jurong Shipyard and flying the Marshall Islands flag – and sister-ship Deepwater Titan , which together represent an investment of more than $2 billion.The Deepwater Atlas was launched this year in Singapore. What, specifically, is so special about it?The Deepwater Atlas is the first of its kind eighth-generation drillship that will offer 20,000 psi well control capabilities and a 3.4 million pound hoisting capacity.

Offshore drilling company Transocean said Thursday that its Deepwater Atlas, the world's first 8th generation drillship, had started its first contract.The offshore drilling rig, delivered by Singapore's Sembcorp Marine in June, is under a contract with Beacon Offshore Energy in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.The Deepwater Atlas is the first of two ultra-deepwater drillships based on the Sembcorp Marine's Jurong Espadon 3T design. The second, also owned by Transocean, is the Deepwater Titan.The Deepwater Atlas has a hook-load lifting capacity of three million pounds.

Singapore-based shipbuilder Sembcorp Marine has delivered the world's first 8th generation drillship, the Deepwater Atlas, to its owner Transocean.The Deepwater Atlas is the first of two ultra-deepwater drillships based on the Sembcorp Marine's Jurong Espadon 3T design. The completed drillship features three-million pound hook-load hoisting capacity and, according to the rigbuilder, sets a new frontier for next generation drillships with its ability to accommodate well control systems for 20,000 psi (pounds per square inch) drilling and completion operations.

Deepwater Atlas, the world's first 8th generation drillship, was recently named at a ceremony in Singapore. The news of the naming ceremony, held late in April, was shared by Transocean, a drilling contractor that owns the vessel, via social media this week.The Deepwater Atlas and its sister rig Deepwater Titan will be the first two 8th generation units when they enter service, and, according to Transocean, will be characterized not only by their ability to drill and complete 20…

Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has sent a force majeure notice to its client Shell over the Noble Globetrotter II drillship contract after the rig was damaged earlier this week in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in severe weather during Hurricane Ida. The 2013-built ultra-deepwater drillship has a contract with Shell lasting until early September 2023 at a flexible day rate of at least $275,000.U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday that the drillship, located 80 nautical miles south, southeast of Grand Isle, La., in the Gulf of Mexico, had sustained damage and that a plan was being developed to bring the vessel into port for repairs.Around 140 crew members were on board when the storm hit, Reuters reported earlier this week, citing USCG petty officer Carlos Galarza said.Noble Corp.

Valaris, the world's largest offshore drilling company by fleet size, is set to lose one of the most lucrative contracts in the offshore drilling industry today after it recently accidentally dropped a blowout preventer stack to seabed offshore Angola.The contract, at a day rate of $620,000 per day, is with the French oil major Total for the drillship Valaris DS-8. The Samsung GF12000 designed drilling rig has been drilling for Total since 2015.As previously reported, Valaris earlier in March said it had accidentally dropped Blowout Preventer Stack to the seafloor of Angola, while the rig was moving between well locations. It then warned the customer might seek to terminate the contract as a result of the incident.In an update on Thursday…

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) – incorporating industry innovation, best science, and best practices – is proposing to update regulations covering offshore oil and gas drilling operations to improve reliability, safety, efficiency, and environmental stewardship, and reduce unnecessary burdens on operators. BSEE reviewed the existing regulations in response to Executive and Secretary’s Orders instructing it to identify ways to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens while ensuring that offshore oil and gas drilling operations are conducted in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. The Proposed Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Rule was submitted to the Federal Register Friday…

The new Cat J jackup rig Askeladden started drilling on the Gullfaks field on 26 March, with the goal of providing new production from old wells and exploring to create new value. Askeladden has been bought by the Gullfaks licence to carry out production and exploration drilling on Gullfaks Satellites. For several months the rig had to wait on weather, both on its way from the yard in South Korea and when it met the Norwegian winter weather. It arrived at the field on February 19th and on 5 March the legs were firmly placed on the seabed at its final location by the subsea template. “Safety is our top priority – we will not start any operations before we are confident that they can be carried out safely.

Lamprell announced its exclusive collaboration with GustoMSC to develop the Lamprell Jackup-43 (LJ43) jackup rig design, creating an advanced drilling rig with the highest level of safe, efficient and reliable drilling capabilities. The LJ43 drilling rig will combine Lamprell’s system integration capability, detailed engineering expertise and construction experience with the robust and advanced technology of GustoMSC designs. The rig utilises GustoMSC’s leg design with a custom designed hull and living quarters developed by Lamprell. It includes various high-end technology features such as a new innovative blowout preventer handling system and enhanced skidding capabilities via a X-Y cantilever, which will enable optimised and highly efficient drilling.

A U.S. regulator has proposed rolling back safety measures put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which would reduce the role of government in offshore oil production, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which regulates offshore oil and gas drilling, proposes relaxing requirements to stream real-time data on oil production operators to facilities onshore, where they are available for review by regulators, the Journal reported. The BSEE has also proposed cutting a provision requiring that third-party inspectors of critical equipment - such as the blowout preventer that failed in the Deepwater Horizon case - be certified by the BSEE, the Journal reported.

Cameron, a Schlumberger company, today announced the signing of two 10-year pressure control equipment management service contracts on behalf of Transocean valued at greater than $350 million. The first contract calls for Schlumberger to manage Transocean’s Cameron risers in the Gulf of Mexico. This comprehensive agreement includes storage, maintenance, inspection, repair, recertification and data-driven riser management on the rigs. Through the second contract, Schlumberger will provide a comprehensive suite of solutions to maintain and service blowout preventer (BOP) systems and other pressure control equipment for nine of Transocean’s ultra-deepwater and harsh environment drilling rigs.

As the oil and gas industry strives for cost effective execution in projects and operations while maintaining a high focus on safety and environmental footprint, innovative and smart solutions are needed more than ever. By extracting data and knowledge from all the detailed incident investigations performed over the years, solutions might be just around the corner. DNV GL now invites industry partners to join an industry project (JIP) to identify and have access to updated trends based on a broad range of data, including failure mechanisms, root causes, materials and equipment. The benefit for the industry will be a systematic approach to capturing and sharing learnings from past failures and for the JIP partners to exchange experiences.

Statoil has awarded Palfinger Dreggen a contract for the complete rebuild and upgrade of six blowout preventer (BOP) cranes for the Gullfaks field in the northern part of the Norwegian North Sea. Each of the BOP cranes to be delivered from Palfinger Dreggen will have the capacity to lift 2 x 20 tons. In addition, the cranes are equipped with an auxiliary hoist with SWL 5 tons for smaller lifts. The delivery includes complete new trolleys with hoisting machineries, new modern control systems for the cranes and radio remote systems to make the operation of the cranes easy and flexible.

Retrieving an unreliable blowout preventer (BOP) is a necessary but expensive operation, costing upwards of one or two million dollars and easily the double in developing ultra-deepwater regions. It is also the main cause of downtime during drilling activity. DNV GL is introducing the BOP▪RDT, a real-time, risk-informed BOP retrieval decision support tool to enable operators to determine when to retrieve the BOP for repair after a detected component failure. Developed at DNV GL’s R&D Center in Rio de Janeiro, the BOP▪RDT tool provides the most comprehensive decision support system, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. It will assist the decision-making process by substantially reducing the degree of subjectivity.

An interview with NOIA’s Randall Luthi provides unique perspective on where the offshore energy business has been, where it is now, and where it could be headed next. It is a predictable but at the same time, an important anniversary to examine: five years beyond the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which began on 20 April 2010 on the BP-owned, Transocean-operated Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. Widely considered to be the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the energy industry, oil flowed from the sea floor for 87 days until capped in mid-July. The environmental impact is well documented, the ultimate impact of the incident on the offshore and oil industries today has been profound, lasting and without a doubt, it made the offshore business safer.

Oil explorers drilling in the waters north of the Falkland Islands have suspended work on the second well of their 2015 current six-well drilling campaign after a technical problem. Operator Premier Oil has suspended operations on the 4/20-1 (Isobel Deep) well, following a problem detected on the drilling rig blowout preventer, BOP, according to partner Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd. Ocean Rig semisubmersible Eirik Raude is performing the drilling program. The company says that the rig, completed in 2002, is equipped for drilling operations in water depths from 500 to 2,500 meters. FOGL said that the problem was detected after the 13⅜-in. casing was set, performed at a water depth of 1,274m, located on license PL004a. The well was spud on April 8, after success in the first well Zebedee.

Variable Bore Rams, Inc. (VBR), one of the largest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ram and BOP component providers in the world, is celebrating its 35th year of providing exceptional support and service to blowout preventer operators. The company, founded in Lafayette, Louisiana, has grown from offering a single variable bore ram model to hosting one of the largest inventories of OEM blowout preventer rams and elastomers in the world. VBR’s 26,654 square foot state-of-the-art warehouse facility, recently constructed in Broussard, Louisiana, houses more than 1,600 different types and sizes of blowout preventer ram type products.

U.S. In response to the findings of investigations into the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and following a thorough evaluation of recommendations from industry groups, equipment manufacturers, federal agencies, academia and environmental organizations, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced proposed regulations to better protect human lives and the environment from oil spills. The measures include more stringent design requirements and operational procedures for critical well control equipment used in offshore oil and gas operations.

The United States is planning to impose a major new regulation on offshore oil and gas drilling to try to prevent the kind of explosions that caused the catastrophic BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing Obama administration officials. The Interior Department could make the announcement as early as Monday, the paper said. It is timed to coincide with the five-year anniversary of the BP disaster, which killed 11 men and sent millions of barrels of oil spewing into the gulf. The rule is expected to tighten safety requirements on blowout preventers, devices that are the last line of protection to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells, the Times reported. The White House did not immediatley respond to a request for comment.

PALFINGER MARINE has sold a package of three travelling cranes and two foldable knuckle boom cranes to Aker Solutions for the use at the Mariner platform. The Mariner platform will be established at the Mariner field, which is located on the East Shetland Platform of the U.K. North Sea. The main operator of the field is Statoil. Production is expected to commence in 2017. The platform will convey an average of 55,000 barrels of oil per day. PALFINGER DREGGEN is delivering two TKU25 underslung travelling cranes with a safe working load (SWL) of 25 t and a span of 14 m and one TKU75 underslung travelling crane with SWL of 75 t and a 14 m span as well. Both cranes are DNV certified. The TKU75 is designed to transfer the blowout preventer (BOP) and its subassemblies.

Transocean Ltd. inform that a subsidiary company has awarded contracts to Sembcorp Marine's subsidiary, Jurong Shipyard, in Singapore for construction of two newbuild dynamically positioned ultra-deepwater drillships with contract options for up to three more. The two drillships are expected to be delivered from the shipyard in the second quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, respectively. The combined capital cost is estimated at approximately US$1.24 billion including the shipyard contracts…

ABS  has awarded approval in principle (AIP) for Hyundai Heavy Industries' next-generation HD12000 heavy duty, wide beam drillship design. The drillship, which can accommodate a 20,000-psi blowout preventer system, has been designed in full compliance with the ABS Guide for the Classification of Drilling Systems (CDS Guide) and other applicable ABS Rules and industry standards. The HD12000 drillship will be capable of operating in 12,000 ft (3,658 m) water depth with a drilling depth to 40,000 ft (12,192 m).