WATCH: Short pit stop for Island Drilling rig at shipyard ahead of work in Africa

Norwegian offshore rig operator Island Drilling Company has made a quick pit stop at a shipyard to prepare its semi-submersible rig for its upcoming assignment with Trident Energy offshore Equatorial Guinea.

After Hidramar Shipyards in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, released a video showing the arrival of the Island Innovator rig, Island Drilling confirmed the rig had made a short pit stop at the shipyard to prepare for its job with Trident Energy.

While welcoming the rig to the shipyard, Hidramar Shipyards explained that it would perform some repairs and maintenance to get the “beautiful lady” ready for action.

“Thank you to Island Drilling for the confidence they place again in our capabilities, and thanks to our team for their hard work,” said the shipyard.

Hidramar Shipyards welcomes Island Innovator rig

Click here to watch video

Trident hired the Island Innovator rig in September 2022 for two firm and five optional wells. Afterward, the company exercised two of these options for development drilling and workover in July 2023, adding another 85 days to the contracted work in Equatorial Guinea.

The rig’s backlog was extended further in September 2023 after Trident exercised one more option, adding another 40 days to the contracted work on behalf of another operator in Equatorial Guinea. The company still has two more options that may be exercised to extend the rig’s stay further.

The 2012-built Island Innovator rig is a sixth-generation semi-submersible drilling, well intervention, and completion unit of GM4000 WI enhanced design. The rig owner recently disclosed its plan to retrofit the semi-submersible drilling rig with Ecochlor’s EcoOne filterless ballast water management system (BWMS).