David Paganie • Houston
Sevan Driller en route to Brazil
The self-propelled rigSevan Driller has completed sea trials off the coast of China and is en route to Brazil to begin a six-year contract with Petrobras. The rig has an expected transit time of 75-80 days including bunkering in Singapore and a crew change in Cape Town, South Africa.
The company has another drilling unit under construction for Petrobras and a third contracted to ONGC under a three-year term. It also is building hulls for two FPSOs, the Sevan 300 numbers 4 and 5, at the Jiangsu Hantong Shipyard in China. It remains in negotiations with the yard over the construction scope.
In recent months, a number of operators have commissioned studies on potential applications of further Sevan cylindrical FPSOs on fields off northwest Europe. One is for Chevron’s Rosebank project west of Shetland, where the scope includes hull sizing and configuration; topside engineering; mooring, motion and stability analysis; marine operations; risk identification; and cost and schedule estimates.
Statoil has commissioned two studies. One is to investigate the feasibility of bridge-linking a Sevan floater to a wellhead platform on an unnamed field. The other concerns scale model testing on use of steel catenary risers with a Sevan floater in a harsh, deepwater application.
BG Norge has contracted a feasibility study for a floater as part of the concept selection process for one of its Norwegian discoveries. And Det Norske has awarded Sevan Marine a contract to study the potential application of a Sevan FPSO on the Frøy field. Similar to the Statoil study, it will explore the feasibility of the Sevan cylindrical FPSO bridge-linked to a wellhead platform.
Plans for Pieter Schelte progress toward design
Allseas Group has completed the basic hull design for the platform installation/decommissioning and pipelay vesselPieter Schelte. Design work is expected to be completed in March 2010, followed shortly by award of the shipbuilding contract. The company ordered long-lead items, such as power generation equipment and thrusters, in March 2007, and high-tensile steel for the jacket and topsides lift systems were ordered in June 2008.
Delivery of the completed vessel is scheduled for 2013.
In other construction vessel news, Royal Bank of Scotland, SSDV1, and SSDV2 have appointed Derrick Offshore to coordinate commercial discussion and marketing of two MT6040 design offshore subsea construction vessels currently under construction at Astilleros de Huelva in Spain. The vessels (hulls 845 and 846) are on offer for sale, lease, or long-term charter.
Hull 845 is expected to be ready for delivery in early 2011.
Keppel delivers jackup, semisub
Keppel FELS has delivered the KFELS B class jackup rigGreatdrill Chitra to India’s Greatship Global Energy Services. The shipyard also has delivered Gold Star, the world’s first DSS 38 deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig, to Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás (QGOG).
Greatdrill Chitra will work off the west coast of India under a five-year contract with ONGC. Gold Star will support Petrobras’ exploration and production activities offshore Brazil.
Keppel Offshore & Marine’s subsidiary, Keppel Singmarine, also is building four platform support vessels for Greatship. QGOG’s second DSS 38 unit,Alpha Star, is under construction and scheduled for delivery in mid-2011.
Keppel also has delivered the jackupPV Drilling III to PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services. The rig is contracted to Vietsovpetro for five years on the Bach Ho field offshore Vietnam.
Prosafe foresees slow pick-up in floater demand
Prosafe Production planned to deliver the FPSONingaloo Vision to Australia by the end of November. The stay at anchorage at Keppel Shipyard had been longer than expected due to issues relating to the steam systems and gas compressors.
Prosafe says that the market for leased FPSOs remains quiet – 2009 will likely be its least active year since 2002. Activity should pick up next year, but the number of awards will probably stay well below the average of 20/year experienced during 2005-08, the company says. Also, all major FPSO suppliers are completing larger conversion projects, freeing up execution capacity. This means competition will remain strong over the next six to 12 months, according to Prosafe.
Over the long-term, however, the outlook is better, with increased amounts of oil production in deepwater, harsh environment, and remote areas with little infrastructure. In all these cases, the FPSO solution remains competitive, the company claims.
Among the company’s other vessels, Kodeco Energy has extended the contract for the FSOMadura Jaya – owned 50% by Prosafe – by six months through November 2010.
Aban Offshore has extended its charter of the FSOEndeavor by a further 12 months. The vessel has been off-hire since its original contract expired this July, but will resume duty following the completion of repair work.
Noble contracts SBM for Aseng FPSO
Noble Energy EG has awarded SBM Offshore a contract for the provision, lease, and operation of an FPSO for the Aseng field development offshore Equatorial Guinea.
SBM Offshore has entered into a joint venture with Compania Nacional de Petroleo de Guinea Ecuatorial (GEPetrol), the state oil company of Equatorial Guinea, for ownership and operation of the Aseng unit. Under the agreement, SBM Offshore will own a 60% share of the joint venture with GEPetrol holding the remaining 40%.
DrillshipDiscoverer Americas begins work
The newbuild drillshipDiscoverer Americas has begun operations in the Gulf of Mexico under a four-year drilling contract for Statoil Gulf of Mexico.
The dynamically positioned, double-hulled drillship features Transocean’s patented dual-activity drilling technology which allows for parallel drilling operations. The rig has a variable deckload of more than 20,000 metric tons (22,046 tons) and the capability to drill in water depths to 12,000 ft (3,658 m).
Forum to manage drillship construction
Forum Services has signed a supervision agreement with Etesco Drilling Services for construction of an ultra deepwater drillship at Samsung Heavy Industries.
Upon delivery from the shipyard, the drillship will operate off Brazil for Petrobras. The rig is designed to drill in up to 3,000 m (10,000 ft) of water. The contract begins immediately with construction scheduled for completion in January 2012.
