PHOTO: Transocean’s semi-sub en route to drilling project in Japan

The image above shows the M.G. Hulme Jr. semi-submersible drilling rig, in Labuan, Malaysia.

According to the author of the photo, Neil Johnston, the 1983-built, 1996-upgraded drilling unit, is now on its way to Japan to start a drilling contract with Inpex.

The Transocean-owned rig left Labuan on Wednesday, is now moving past Palawan, the Philippines, under tow by the Terasea Falcon vessel.

The rig is expected to arrive to its offshore location near Hamada, Japan on May 5, 2016.

According to a report by Transocean, the rig will be under the contract until July 2016, on a dayrate of $163.000. The Transocean report from February estimates the backlog from the contract to be around $16 million.

As for the drilling project itself, Inpex in December 2015 said it was preparing an exploratory well will be drilled in a location offshore Yamaguchi and Shimane prefectures where in 2011, the Japanese government conducted a geophysical survey from the seismic survey vessel Shigen as part of its domestic oil and natural gas exploration project, and where INPEX conducted a 3D geophysical survey in 2013 based on the earlier survey.

The aim of the project, should it unearth viable quantities of hydrocarbons, is to decrease Japan’s dependence on energy imports.

Offshore Energy Today Staff