West Sirius almost ready

The first of a series of three high-performance, identical design 6th generation semi-submersible rigs, West Sirius, built by SembCorp Marine?s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard for Norway?s Seadrill Limited was named recently. This is the shipyard?s first turnkey rig-building project which encompasses engineering, procurement, construction, integration and commissioning (EPIC) elements. The $390 million sophisticated oil-rig was built using Jurong Shipyard?s proprietary award-winning “Load-out & Mating-in-dock” technique, in which the upper and lower hulls were simultaneously constructed and subsequently skidded and mated in the drydock.

This pioneering rig-building technique accelerated the delivery time for the semi-submersibles by 4 months, enabling Jurong Shipyard to deliver 2 semi-submersible rigs in a year. ?West Sirius? incorporates the latest in deep sea drilling technologies, will be capable of drilling wells of up to 37,500 feet while operating in dynamic positioning mode in water depths of up to 10,000 feet. Engineered for stability and versatility, the semisubmersible is equipped with 18,000 square feet of usable deck space, with the ability to carry a variable deck load of up to 8,000 tonnes. This rig is designed with an operational displacement of 43,400 tonnes at 17 metres draught.

The semisubmersible is now undergoing commissioning in the yard before leaving for sea trials in the next few weeks. The rig is scheduled to depart Singapore for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the first quarter of 2008 to begin a four-year charter worth $690 million with Devon Energy Corp.