World’s largest semi-sub rig on its way to UK ahead of North Sea job

A semi-submersible drilling rig considered to be the largest of its kind in the world is heading to the UK for its upcoming job in the North Sea scheduled to start early next year.

Diamond Offshore’s Ocean GreatWhite rig left the Port of Granadilla, located in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona in the southeast of the island of Tenerife, on Wednesday, 12 October 2022.

While the rig was in Tenerife, Alaymar Services & Supplies and Astilleros Canarios S.A.(ASTICAN) helped prepare it for the upcoming deployment.

According to the latest AIS data, the 2016-built rig is currently located off West Africa and it is heading to Kishorn in the UK where it is expected to arrive on 26 October 2022.

The rig has been stacked in the Canary Islands for a while. Then, a couple of months ago, it secured a new five-well contract in the North Sea. At the time, Diamond did not reveal the name of the operator but the company’s fleet status report from later that month revealed that the Ocean GreatWhite will work for BP.

Starting in 1Q 2023, the contract has an estimated duration of 300 days. The total contract value of the committed scope is approximately $80 million and it also includes priced options for up to eight additional wells.

Diamond Offshore is already recruiting personnel for its North Sea teams. Today, 13 October and on 27 October the company will have recruitment days in Aberdeen for any roustabouts or floorhands interested in joining its teams. These are permanent positions with opportunities available on the Ocean Endeavor, Ocean GreatWhite, and Ocean Patriot, according to Diamond.

This is not Ocean GreatWhite’s first stint with BP nor its first visit to Scotland’s Kishorn. Back in January 2019, it arrived there for a 10-week stay and preparations ahead of its contract with Siccar Point, which started in March 2019.

Delivered by Hyundai Heavy in Ulsan, South Korea and classed by DNV, the Ocean GreatWhite is a 6th generation harsh environment rig capable of drilling down to 10,000m in 3,000m of water. With a draft of over 23 meters, the rig needs deep water for anchoring. It is 123 meters long and 78 meters wide and weighs 60,800 tonnes.

The rig is of a MOSS CS60E design and it is suitable for operations in harsh environments. It was the first newbuild rig to receive the DNV GL Integrated Software Dependent Systems (ISDS) notation.

The article was updated on 19 October to reflect the change in the rig’s ETA, which was first expected on 1 November and later changed to 26 October 2022.