Seadrill taps Semco Maritime to prepare rig for Lundin gig

Semco Maritime has been awarded a contract by Seadrill for preparation and modification of the West Bollsta rig prior to starting its ten-well contract with Lundin on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2Q 2020.

Semco Maritime said on Friday that the project would be executed at its yard at Hanøytangen outside Bergen starting in mid-February 2020.

The West Bollsta is an advanced harsh environment drilling rig, based on the Moss Maritime CS60 design, owned by Northern Ocean and operated by Seadrill. The rig was finished at Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in 2019. It is capable of operating in harsh environment areas and in ultra-deep waters of up to 10,000 feet.

According to Semco, the project is expected to employ around 100 people at Semco Maritime’s yard facility at Hanøytangen, which has an operating dry-dock of 125x125x17 meters, accommodation with single beds for 365 workers and several quays with depth ranging from 17-90 meters at quayside.

Managing Director of Semco Maritime Norway, Lars Jønholt Halvorsen, said: “This contract award, on a state of the art drilling rig such as West Bollsta, further anchors our position in the top quartile of our industry. We look forward to a safe, professional and predictable project with Seadrill, the West Bollsta team and our key suppliers at Hanøytangen.”

Lundin awarded the ten-well contract to the West Bollsta rig in February 2019. The drilling program for the rig will include the development of the Luno II field and the Rolvsnes discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea with contract start expected in the second quarter of 2020.

Apart from the ten wells agreed, Lundin will have four additional one-well options, that, it fully exercised, would keep the West Bollsta rig busy in Norway until 3Q 2022.

Northern bought the West Bollsta semi-submersible, previously known as Bollsta Dolphin, from Hyundai in December 2017. The original client for the rig, Fred. Olsen Energy, canceled the order in 2015 as a result of the delays in delivery date.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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