USA: Gulf Island Fabrication Receives LoA for Hull Construction

Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc. announced today, that through its subsidiary Gulf Marine Fabricators, it has signed a Letter of Award for the fabrication of a hull for a Williams deep-water Gulf of Mexico project.

Revenue and man-hour backlog is included in the Company’s consolidated backlog reported when the Company announced its earnings results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011.

Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc., based in Houma, Louisiana, is a leading fabricator of offshore drilling and production platforms, hull and/or deck sections of floating production platforms and other specialized structures used in the development and production of offshore oil and gas reserves. These structures include jackets and deck sections of fixed production platforms; hull and/or deck sections of floating production platforms (such as tension leg platforms (“TLPs”)), “SPARs, FPSOs, MinDOCs,” piles, wellhead protectors, subsea templates and various production, compressor and utility modules, offshore living quarters, brown water towboats, other marine vessels, lift boats, tanks and barges. The Company also provides offshore interconnect pipe hook-up, inshore marine construction, manufacture and repair of pressure vessels, dry dock and marine repair services, heavy lifts such as ship integration and TLP module integration, loading and offloading of jack-up drilling rigs, semi-submersible drilling rigs, TLPs, SPARs, or other similar cargo, onshore and offshore scaffolding, piping insulation services, and steel warehousing and sales.

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UAE: Drydocks World Renews Semi Submersible Crane Vessel Hermod

Drydocks World will carry out refurbishment worth $3.3m onboard semi-submersible crane vessel Hermod belonging to Dutch company Heerema Marine Contractors, a service provider in the offshore oil and gas industry. The ship is 154 m long and 86 m wide and is one of the largest in operation.

Its draft is 10.5 – 28.2 m depending on whether water has been taken in. The Hermod is capable of a tandem lift of 8,100 tonnes and has been employed on several record breaking projects in harsh North Sea environments.

“We are confident that with proven technical capabilities and our new streamlined production process, we will be able to achieve significant value addition to challenging projects of this nature. Our longstanding valuable experience and technical competence is a constant draw for projects of a sophisticated nature and our repair and refurbishment abilities have been widely acknowledged around the globe. We have built a commendable list of clientele, which we plan to expand during the course of the year,” said Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World.

The vessel arrived at Drydocks World’s Dubai shipyard on 1 April 2011 and the works will be completed by mid-May. The broad work scope includes, replacement of wooden fenders by steel half-pipe fenders, steel renewal totaling around 10 km of welding), coating of external hull including floaters and columns, overhaul of electric motors in the crane, replacement of hydraulic pipes, repair of ballast & cooling water pipes and bearings in the 4000-tonne crane block. In addition, maintenance of fair leads, ballast valves, bow thruster, removal of rudders and undertaking a shafts survey and renovation of sanitary spaces will be carried out.

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Fred. Olsen Energy Enters LOI for Rig Provision for Drilling Offshore Brazil

Dolphin Drilling Ltd, a subsidiary of Fred. Olsen Energy ASA , has entered into a Letter of Intent for the provision of the semi-submersible Blackford Dolphin for drilling of one well offshore Brazil.

Commencement is scheduled late in the fourth quarter 2011, with an estimated duration of total 135 days of which some 118 days will be in continuation of the existing Reliance contract. Total contract value is approximately USD 47 million. The contract remains subject to final contract agreement, partner and management approval which are anticipated to be closed within end May.

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ENSCO orders seventh ultra deepwater semi at Keppel FELS

August 12, 2008

Dallas headquartered ENSCO International Inc, (NYSE: ESV) has finalized a construction contract with Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited for the seventh ENSCO 8500 Series ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig.

To be named ENSCO 8506, the rig’s total project cost is currently projected to be $560 million. Delivery is expected in the second half of 2012. The contract follows shortly after the award of the sixth semi, ENSCO 8505, announced on June 1, 2008.

ENSCO 8506 will be part of the company’s eight-rig deepwater fleet that includes the ENSCO 7500 deepwater semisubmersible that has been in service since 2000. The first four of the ENSCO 8500 Series rigs to be delivered are contracted to customers for term work commencing upon delivery, and marketing of the three latest ENSCO 8500 Series rigs already is underway.

The first of the seven 8500 Series semis was contracted at Keppel FELS in 2005 and is on track for shipyard delivery in the third quarter of this year. It has been chartered to Anadarko and Eni for operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The ENSCO 8500 Series semisubmersibles are based upon an ENSCO proprietary design. Features include a two million pound quad derrick, offline pipe handling capability, automatic station keeping ability to DP2, and 150-man living quarters. The 8500 Series rigs will be capable of drilling in up to 8,500 feet of water. With these capabilities and features, the rigs will be especially well-suited for deepwater development drilling.

Daniel W. Rabun, ENSCO’s Chairman, President and CEO, commented: “We continue to execute on our strategy to expand our deepwater presence, and again look forward to working with Keppel FELS on this important project. Our $3.1 billion investment in the ENSCO 8500 Series) rigs demonstrates our commitment to playing a meaningful role in the growing deepwater market. With our current seven rig newbuild program, no other company will have a larger ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig fleet.”

Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS) has won the contract to build the seventh ENSCO 8500 Series¨ deepwater semisubmersible (semi) worth US$560 million. This sum includes equipment specified by the owner.

Mr Choo Chiau Beng, Chairman and CEO of Keppel O&M said, “This contract to build the seventh semi for ENSCO is a vote of confidence from a top-notch drilling contractor for our reliability as a partner of choice. We remain committed to giving ENSCO our full support and contributing to the growth of their high quality deepwater fleet.”

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Q4000, a new-generation ultra-deepwater multi-service vessel

Caldive says the construction of the Q4000, its new-generation ultra-deepwater multi-service vessel, is now well advanced.Due to be introduced into service in mid-2001, the new vessel is a hybrid design combining elements of a column stabilised semi-submersible but without the usual hull cross bracing.Combined with four streamlined columns, this should provide improved hydrodynamic performance and enhanced dynamic positioning.Caldive says the Q4000 is configured to work efficiently and effectively in all water depths and in particular to carry out construction and well servicing at extreme depths.

Caldive says close attention has been paid in developing the design with regard to redundancy, safety, habitability, and seakeeping qualities in order to maximize efficiency and reduce building costs, allowing more competitive day rates. The overall design objective was, says Caldive, to create a new class of support vessel, which would outperform all multi service vessels.The Q400 also has a spacious work deck capable of supporting 4000 metric tons of variable deck load, and the capability to transport and install large under slung loads, thus ensuring that mobilization times and costs can be substantially reduced, whilst high transit speeds allow the vessel to rapidly move from one location to another.The combination of a high level of thruster power, reduced hydrodynamic effects, and excellent motions, will allow operators to carry out installation work in the winter and complete work normally assigned to summer periods.Working in water depths to up to 10,000 feet, the Q4000 will be capable of well completion and tree setting; template and module installation; intra-field flowline and umbilical lay; well servicing; steel pipelay (J-lay or reel-lay); life of field support; repair and maintenance; and field decommissioning.

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