Noble Drilling's Paul Wolfe semi-submersible, using combined DP and mooring, is drilling a record well off Brazil.
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Noble Drilling Corporation's Noble Paul Wolff semisubmersible has eclipsed the world water depth drilling record by 298 ft with the rig's inaugural well. The well, 1-RJS-538 was spudded in May in 8,016 ft of water in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil. The Noble Paul Wolff is drilling in a full-DP mode which makes it capable to drill in up to 8,800 ft of water and is under a contract to Petrobras. The well knocked off the previous record-holder, Global Marine's Glomar Explorer, which drilled in 7,718 ft of water in Atwater Valley 118 in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
The Noble Paul Wolff is the second of Noble's EVA-4000 conversions from submersible to semisubmersible to enter service. The conversion was completed by TDI-Halter in Sabine Pass, Texas, with the final outfitting completed by Friede Goldman Offshore - West in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
