Further to announcement made on November 5, 2010, and following attempts to release the locked ram at the seabed, Sevan has, in accordance with procedures, decided to pull the BOP to the surface for repair of the jammed ram.
Preparations for the pulling operations are ongoing. Estimated total downtime since the rig came off hire on November 2 is about 20 days.
In June 2010, Sevan Driller was the world’s first cylindrical drilling rig to commence operation. The rig is currently operating under a six year contract for Petrobras S.A.
In November 2009, Sevan Driller was delivered from the Cosco Qidong Shipyard in China less than 30 months from start of construction. Sevan Driller is designed to include the most advanced drilling capabilities in the industry and is based on Sevan’s own patented technology. The unit has a capacity of drilling wells up to 40,000 feet in water depths of up to 12,500 feet, a variable deck load of more than 20,000 metric tons and high storage capacity of bulk materials. Sevan Driller is equipped with an internal storage capacity of up to 150,000 barrels of oil.
Petrobras S.A is a national oil company founded in 1953 by the Brazilian government. Petrobras has been ranked as the world’s 4th largest public oil-company and 8th largest company in the world in market value, and closed 2009 with a production of 2.1 million bpd of oil and LNG and 0.4 million boepd of gas.
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Source: SevanMarine, November 8, 2010;