Singapore Rig Incident Forces Chinese Shipyard to Halt Rig Construction

China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co. Ltd.  has been notified by Friede & Goldman Marketing BV (“F&G”) to temporarily suspend work on its under-construction rigs’ jacking systems, pending testing. F&G is the engineering firm that has designed the jack-up and supplied the entire jacking system through their own sub-suppliers.

Rig Tilting in Jurong Shipyard

The F&G notice follows a recent incident involving Noble Corporation’s F&G design jack-up rig that is under construction at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. Preliminary findings suggest that one of the jacking mechanisms failed for the rig Noble Regina Allen berthed at the shipyard, causing the main hull of the rig to list to one side, leading to the accident in which 89 workers were injured.

DSIC-Offshore had, reportedly, previously experienced issues with some of the components of the jacking systems of F&G rigs currently under construction at their yard, and was investigating the jacking systems before receiving the letter from F&G.

Delivery delay?

Prospector Offshore Drilling S.A., a drilling contractor which has four jack-up rigs  under construction in Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co. commented on the matter: “The Company’s first rig, PROSPECTOR 1, was previously expected to be delivered at the end of January 2013 and mobilized to the North Sea for a long term drilling contract. At this time, the Company cannot estimate any impact on the delivery date of PROSPECTOR 1 until the evaluation of the jacking system is complete, which is anticipated to be within the next few weeks. The Company is currently developing a number of alternative solutions to replace any components, which might be found non-compliant, and minimize any delay to the delivery schedule.”

Related:

Jurong Shipyard Rig Incident: Stop-Work Order Remains Until Further Notice

77 Workers Injured in Rig Listing Incident Released from Hospital (Singapore)

Jack-Up Rig Tilts in Singapore Shipyard. 90 Workers Injured

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, December 6, 2012