The construction of EDrill-3 semitender rig in COSCO’s Guangdong shipyard is in the final phase of testing and commissioning, reports Energy Drilling. EDrill-3 is a four-column, Ocean Class design by MSC Gusto. Edrill-3, which was designed to work in both shallow and deep waters, will be the first tender-assist semisub based on Gusto MSC’s Ocean400-TD design and is better suited to harsher environments than the current units.
To date, the project has achieved a major safety milestone of more than 2 million man hours without a lost-time incident.
In April, the company reported that the EDrill-3 drilling equipment set was actually progressing ahead of schedule, with all pre-commissioning activities completed in April 2015 at Megaway Engineering’s fabrication yard in Singapore.
Preliminary commissioning and function testing of the draw works, top drive, accumulator, BOPs and offline-activities cantilever pipe-handling equipment was successfully completed in cooperation with equipment vendor specialists. The DES has also been fully assembled with the mast scoped up in both quad and triple modes and the shaker tank mounted on both the ODS and DS sides. The next step will be to transport the DES to COSCO’s shipyard for full commissioning and integrated acceptance testing with the semi-tender’s power and control systems.
According to Energy Drilling, when EDrill-3 is completed in August 2015, it will be the largest, most advanced semitender in the world capable of operating in severe environments and fully equipped to couple with any existing trussed spar or tension leg platform.
In December 2014, the construction of Energy Drilling’s EDrill-3 reached a milestone with the successful installation of EDrill-3’s upper hull deck box modules, which was a little more than a month after the lower hull was launched in the end of October. The EDrill-3’s upper hull was constructed and outfitted with major equipment packages in parallel with the lower hull since the project’s outset. The living quarter’s module was installed in the second week of December.
The project team was led by EDrill’s project manager, Jason Tan, and his counterpart, Zhu Qing, from Cosco. In August 2014, Energy Drilling ordered the tender rig at China’s Cosco shipyard, which reflected Energy Drilling’s confidence that the tender rig concept market is gaining popularity. The company’s first unit, Edrill-1, built by Cosco Guangdong, was delivered in April 2014 and was chartered by PTTEP for its first job at the Bongkot field in the Gulf of Thailand, starting in October 2014.
Energy Drilling's chief executive, Marcus Chew, says he is prepared to order a fourth rig once charter agreements for his two newbuilds, Edrill-2 and Edrill-3, are in place. Chew says that more companies are now using tender drilling in addition to traditional users such as PTTEP and Chevron. In addition to Shell’s plans at Malikai, French upstream giant Total will use a tender rig with a tension-leg platform at its Moho Nord field in West Africa, while Petrobras is using one at the Papa Terra field in Brazil, also with a TLP.
Chew says that the deepwater sector sees the advantage of this concept due to its cost advantage and proven operational uptime. Chew decided to build these tender rigs at Cosco Guangdong due to its price advantage and attractive financing facilities. Cosco Guangdong also provided detailed design for EDrill-1, with its drilling equipment set coming from Oilfield Equipment & Structure’s fabrication yard in Singapore.
Image: EDrill-3 semitender rig / Energy Drilling
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