Global Resources reactivates rig

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK -- Global Resources Engineering Project Services Division has completed a reactivation program onboard the Essar Oil semisubmersible drilling rig Essar Wildcat, formerly the Transocean Wildcat. Essar Oil awarded the $50-million contract in Dec. 2006.

The semi had been cold stacked in the Cromarty Firth, Invergordon, since 2002, Terry Lelean, senior project manager, says: "The contract lasted ten weeks and involved more than 260 personnel at peak operation."

The first step in the project involved lifting anchors and towing the rig to the quayside at Queens Dock, Lelean says, "which in itself represented a number of challenges as much of the machinery had not been operational for five years."

When the rig arrived in Queens Dock, the project team defined a work scope that would recertify the rig for fitness so it could be towed to India, where it will begin a drilling program in 3Q 2007.

3/6/2007