Rig Management News

Cosco (Dalian) Shipyard Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of its 51 percent owned Cosco Shipyard Group Co., Ltd., has delivered two jackups to the Foresight Group of companies through United Arab Emirates-based drilling and rig management services firm Hallworthy International FZC. Cosco Dalian signed the delivery documents for the two jackups,"N527" and "N581" -- possibly Vivekanand 2 (350' ILC) and Vivekanand 3 (350' ILC) -- with the buyer recently. The  jack-up  rigs,  both  measuring  74.09  meters  in  LOA  (length  of  all),  62.80  meters  in width,  are  designed  to  operate  at  water  depths  of  350  feet  and  is  capable  of  performing drilling operations at depths of up to 30,000 feet.

The Singapore-based  offshore services provider Kim Heng Offshore & Marine has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Iran Marine Fund (IMF)to provide its technical expertise and financing to Iranian offshore marine and oil & gas projects. Based on the MOU, which was signed by Mehrdad Mozaffari, the IMF managing director, and Tan Keng Hoe Melvin, the general manager for supply chain management in Kim Heng, on Monday, the Singaporean company agreed to provide a €400 million finance to develop Iran's marine industries in several phases. The memorandum of understanding entails Kim Heng will support the offshore sector in the following areas: shipbuilding…

Offshore U.S. Gulf energy operators have already paid a steep price; more pain could come. Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is now close to levels seen before the April 2010 Macondo spill that took 11 lives and caused the nation’s worst offshore oil spill. Almost two years after the disaster, companies operating in the Gulf are trying to comply with safety requirements finalized last year, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. BSEE’s new safety rules for offshore drillers set standards for casing and cementing…

Buccaneer Energy contextualizes termination of its contract with Archer Drilling as project manager of work on one of its jack-up rigs. The contract was for Archer Drilling to act as project manager of modifications and repairs to the Endeavour-Spirit of Independence jack-up rig owned by Kenai Offshore Ventures, LLC, which is a joint venture between Buccaneer, Singapore based Ezion Holdings Limited and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (“AIDEA”). Buccaneer is the designated Manager of Kenai Offshore. Archer Drilling was engaged by Kenai Offshore in October 2011 under a Master Services Agreement (“MSA”) to provide project management services for the modifications and repairs required to be undertaken to the Endeavour to allow it to operate in the Cook Inlet, Alaska.

Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (NASDAQ:ORIG) signed a new drilling contract for its semisubmersible drilling rig “Leiv Eiriksson” with a consortium coordinated by Rig Management Norway for drilling on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. total revenue backlog is estimated at $653 million for a minimum period of 1070 days. The new contract is a well-based contract for 15 wells and will commence in the fourth quarter of 2012 or the first quarter of 2013. The contract includes three options of 6 wells each that have to be exercised well in advance of the expiry of the firm period. George Economou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Rig UDW Inc commented “We are pleased to announce this long-term contract with a strong consortium for work on the Norwegian Continental Shelf…

BASS Software Ltd., global provider of software for fleet and rig management, will use the financial resources it freed up after selling itself out of Star Information Systems (SIS) to continue to invest in its own business by pursuing new markets and developing new products. In 1999, BASS bought a 34 percent stake in SIS, a supplier of maritime software, as an opportunity to complement its product assortment and geographical reach. Since then, however, a strained liquidity situation and very low profit margins have prevented SIS from paying out dividends and investing adequately in product and technology upgrades. Because of SIS’ poor performance and its need for major funding over a long period of time to upgrade its products and technology platform…

Measurement Technology NW (MTNW) has recently completed a contract to provide installation, calibration and commissioning on an eight-point mooring monitoring system for Frontier’s drill ship, Duchess, off the coast of Nigeria. The new running line tensiometer and LCI-90 mooring monitoring system provides visibility into line tensions which will support mooring and rig movement monitoring. The Duchess is a 475 ft by 75 ft vessel which needs to stay centered over an offshore oil-well for months on end despite sea states and drilling activity.