China: COSL Takes Delivery of New Semi-Submersible Drilling Rig

COSL Takes Delivery of New Semi-Submersible Drilling Rig

On the morning of Oct. 21st, 2011, the Delivery Ceremony of COSLINNOVATOR was successfully held in Yantai. It is the second deep water semi-submersible drilling platform built by Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Ltd. (hereafter refers to CIMC Raffles) for COSL Drilling Europe AS (hereafter refers to CDE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Oilfield Services Limited (hereafter refers to COSL), and it is also the fifth semi-submersible drilling rig delivered by CIMC Raffles in the past one year, which indicates CIMC Raffles as the first offshore enterprise in China for possessing the ability of delivering such rigs in batch.

Offshore is one of the new strategic industries confirmed by “the twelfth five-year plan” of China. The breakthrough made by CIMC Raffles in the area of building semi-submersible drilling rigs, marked the significant progress in this industry, and it also further strengthened CIMC Raffles’ construction equipment in developing the deep-sea oil and gas resources.

COSLINNOVATOR is such a semi-submersible drilling rig that constructed according to the relevant laws, and regulations of Norwegian sea waters. It satisfies the requirements and industry standards of The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD), DET NORSKE VERITAS (DNV), and NORSOK, being capable of operating not only in Norwegian North Sea, the most harsh sea condition, but also in other sea waters around the world. COSLINNOVATOR has firmed the foundation for the products of CIMC Raffles to enter into the international market.

Some technical specifications of COSLINNOVATOR are as follows: length of 104.5 meters, width of 65 meters, depth of 36.85 meters, design draught of 9.5 – 17.75 meters, operation in water depth of 70-750 meters, maximum wind speed of 51.5 M/second in survival conditions, maximum vertical drilling depth of 7500 meters, maximum variable deck load of 4000 tons, and design accommodation of 120 people, with both the foundations for drilling and living. A Dynamic Positioning 3 (DP3) System and the design of unmanned engine room (E0) enable the remote control in engine control room and pilot house. The engineering and construction of key equipments in COSLINNOVATOR are all compliance with the latest requirements of Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC).

COSLPIONEER, the sister-platform of COSLINNOVATOR, has operated in North Sea Sleipner oil field, which has the roughest sea condition, after its delivery on Oct. 26th, 2010, and it finished the operation for the first well on Oct. 12th, 2011; The Scarabeo 9 built by CIMC Raffles is on the way to the sea area of Cuba, planning to drill wells for Spanish Repsol Company, and Malaysian Petroleum Company by the end of this December; The SS PANTANAL and SS AMAZONIA are the fifth generation semi-submersible platforms built by CIMC Raffles for Schahin Company in Brazil, at present, SS PANTANAL is operating in Marin oil field of Campos Basin, and SS AMAZONIA is in Santos Basin.

The successful delivery of COSLINNOVATOR carried the previous achievement of CIMC Raffles on to the next new stage, and widened the course for Chinese offshore enterprises in developing in high-end market.

[mappress]
Source: CIMC Raffles, October 21, 2011