China’s CIMC Raffles last Friday held a keel laying ceremony for a new semi-submersible drilling rig, the Beacon Atlantic.
This will be the ninth semi-submersible drilling rig built by CIMC Raffles. The ceremony was held at the company’s Yantai construction base.
Beacon Atlantic is the 6th semisubmersible drilling rig of the GM design. Scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2016, the rig will be owned by Beacon Holdings Group Ltd.
Beacon Atlantic will be able to operate at water depth up to 500 meters and drill wells down to 8000 meters. It will be equipped with a NOV drilling package, DP3 and 8-point mooring system. The rig is designed to operate in the harsh North Sea environment and also in other challenging regions such as the Arctic and Barents Sea.