Offshore staff

LONDON -- Borders & Southern Petroleum has contracted a replacement rig for its first drilling program offshore the Falkland Islands.

Ocean Rig UDW will now supply the semisubmersible Leiv Eiriksson in place of the previously assigned sister semi Eirik Raude.

Leiv Eiriksson is a fifth generation, harsh environment, dynamically positioned rig. Its BOP was recently upgraded to include casing shear rams, providing stronger capabilities in the event of a well control incident or an emergency disconnect. The vessel has also just completed its DNV 10-year special survey.

It will likely mobilize to the Falklands in October following completion of its operations this summer offshore Greenland. Border & Southern expects to spud its first well in December.

CEO Howard Obee said: “We are very happy to have made this rig substitution. In addition to some enhanced technical specifications and an experienced crew, it gives us greater clarity on arrival time, which is important for our logistics planning.”

05/06/2011