Drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 begins work offshore India
Aug. 10, 2009
Transocean’s drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 has begun operations off India under a five-year drilling contract with Reliance Industries Ltd.
Offshore staff
ZUG, Switzerland -- Transocean’s drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 has begun operations off India under a five-year drilling contract with Reliance Industries Ltd. Transocean currently expects that Reliance will sublet the rig for the first four years of the contract to ONGC. Reliance will operate the rig for the fifth year.
The Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 is the first of two ultra deepwater newbuild drillships owned by a joint venture company with Pacific Drilling. The second ultra deepwater newbuild drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 is also contracted and is scheduled to begin operations in 2010.
The dynamically positioned, double-hulled drillship features National Oilwell Varco drilling packages that include advanced offshore drilling technology, with significant off-line tubular-handling and stand-building capabilities, advanced mud system designs, advanced systems for building, storing and running several subsea trees and efficient riser and BOP handling systems.
The drillship has a variable deckload of approximately 20,000 metric tons (22,046 tons), and is equipped to drill wells to 35,000 ft (10,668 m) deep in up to 10,000 ft (3,048 m) of water.
