Westcon welcomes world’s largest jack-up rig

Westcon enters its 20 years anniversary as a rig modification yard by welcoming the world’s largest jack-up rig Maersk Intrepid.

Much has changed since Safe Britannia entered Westcon Yards in Olen 20 years ago as the yards’ first rig project. Westcon has invested more than NOK 600 million in developing the yard and the organization, and more than 100 rig projects have been completed.

“Westcon has the most experienced organization within rig modification and maintenance in Norway. Through 20 years we have invested in and developed unique competence, routines and project management tools that make us able to plan the rig projects in a good way and by this give our customers predictability in project’s implementation”, says Malvin Eide, manager for rig repairs at Westcon Yards.

Among the investment at the yard’s facilities the preparation of the seabed outside the quay to provide jack-up rigs with safe moorings. This will become useful when the jack-up rig Maersk Intrepid arrives at Westcon on June 6. The rig was completed at the Keppel Fells yard in Singapore in March and left it in the end of April. With a leg length of 206.8 meters it is the world’s largest jack-up rig.

Maersk Intrepid is the first in a series of four newbuild ultra harsh environment jack-up rigs to enter Maersk Drilling’s rig fleet in 2014-16. The four jack-up rigs represent a total investment of USD 2.6bn. The first three jack-up rigs, including Maersk Intrepid, will be delivered from the Keppel FELS shipyard in 2014-2015, and the fourth will be delivered from the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in South Korea in 2016.

The Maersk Intrepid will be drilling the demanding and complex wells on the Martin Linge field development in the Norwegian North Sea. The contract includes four one-year options. The estimated contract value for the firm contract is USD 550 million.

Maersk Intrepid will stay at Westcon Yards for 50-60 days to train the crew, install third part equipment and to test the systems on board before sailing away to its offshore location.