David Sharp News

A ship built by the CIA for a secret Cold War mission in 1974 to raise a sunken Soviet sub is heading to the scrap yard, a victim of the slide in oil prices. Christened the Hughes Glomar Explorer, after billionaire Howard Hughes was brought in on the CIA's deception, the 619-foot vessel eventually became part of the fleet of ships used by Swiss company Transocean to drill for oil. But the oil price rout means the former spy ship now called GSF Explorer is just one of 40 such offshore drilling rigs that have been consigned to scrap since last year.

Horizon Offshore’s subsidiaries, HOC Offshore S. de R.L. de C.V. and Horizon Offshore Contractors, Inc. jointly received a letter of award for the KU-MALOOB-ZAAP project from Pemex Exploracion y Produccion. The project calls for installation, tie-in, and associated topside hookup works of four pipelines. Horizon will utilize its lay barge Lone Star Horizon on the project. Construction is scheduled to begin late in the third-quarter of 2005. “Despite having experienced economic difficulties during a period of lower demand for our services, we have maintained good relationships with all of our major customers, including Pemex,” said David Sharp, President and CEO of Horizon Offshore, Inc. successfully complete major construction projects.