Oxy takes delivery of “Msheireb” jack-up rig

Gulf Drilling International (“GDI”) and Occidental Petroleum of Qatar (“Oxy”) have jointly announced that the jack-up drilling rig “Msheireb”, which was acquired by GDI earlier this year and refurbished, has been accepted by Oxy for drilling operations.

“Msheireb” will be the third GDI rig currently working for Oxy with the rigs “Al Rayyan” and “Al Wajba” already under contract with Oxy.

Oxy’s President and General Manager Steve Kelly said: “We are pleased to mobilize our third drilling rig provided by GDI to support Oxy’s active development program. He commended GDI for the excellent performance of its rigs and looked forward to continuing to enhance the mutually beneficial relationship between Oxy Qatar and GDI. Mr. Kelly also emphasized the importance of safe operations and expressed confidence that GDI would continue to work with Oxy Qatar to maintain and enhance safety performance as the rig fleet expands.”

GDI’s Chief Executive Officer, Ibrahim J. Al Othman said: “I am pleased to have attained Oxy’s contractual acceptance of the rig and note with pride that Msheireb would be GDI’s 8th jack-up rig to go into service. He added that with three of its eight jack-up rigs now working for Oxy, a fine working relationship has developed with Oxy, as evidenced by the Performance Recognition Award that Oxy gave GDI signifying that GDI’s safety, operational performance and equipment reliability was amongst the best of all rigs working for Oxy worldwide.”

Al Othman further advised: “The refurbishment work has been completed and the rig will mobilize on schedule. The successful on-time commencement of this five year contract, valued at approximately QR865 million, is also very welcome.”

Msheireb has a 60 feet cantilever outreach. It can drill to a depth of 25,000 feet, operate in a water depth of 300 feet, and accommodate 116 persons.