PHOTO: Borr Drilling’s Prospector 5 rig on the move

Borr Drilling’s Prospector 5 jack-up drilling rig seems ready to leave Schiedam, The Netherlands, where it’s been sitting for months.

According to a photo and a Linkedin post by Hans Tompot, the rig, previously owned by Paragon Offshore (a company recently taken over by Borr), is set to depart a yard in Schiedam.

“At departure, the rig of the Friede & Goldman JU2000E design will be assisted by four DAMEN Azimuth Stern Drive tugs, operated by KotugSMIT,” Tompot said in his post.

The Prospector 5 jack-up rig was built for Prospector Offshore by SWS in China in 2014. Prospector Offshore was then acquired by Paragon Offshore.

The rig had spent three years working for Total in the North Sea between late 2014 and late 2017, at the Elgin location, in the Central Graben area of the UK North Sea. Upon the contract expiration, the rig was stacked in the Netherlands.

Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Borr Drilling, seeking more info on the rig’s next destination. We will update the article if we get a response.

Worth noting, while Borr Drilling has recently started a “scrapfest” selling several older rigs bought as part of Paragon transaction for scrap, the Prospector 5, and its sister rig Prospector 1 should not fear the similar fate, any time soon.

Namely, announcing the Paragon transaction, Borr said the “two modern units of the leading JU-2000E design, the Prospector 1 and Prospector 5” would complement Borr’s fleet “and further consolidate its leading position in the premium jack-up segment.”

Update: July 10, 2017

Mr. Hans Tompot has informed us and has updated his Linkedin post accordingly, that the Prospector 5 on Monday evening left Schiedam, bound for Damen Verolme Rotterdam.

Offshore Energy Today Staff