Platform rig installed for Black Sea drilling program
Nov. 29, 2010
GSP Offshore has installed a new drilling rig (GSP 31) on TPAO’s Akcakoca platform in the Turkish sector of the western Black Sea.
Offshore staff
CONSTANTA, Romania -- GSP Offshore has installed a new drilling rig (GSP 31) on TPAO’s Akcakoca platform in the Turkish sector of the western Black Sea.
The self-contained, modular rig was loaded early this month onto the semisubmersible barge GSP Bigfoot 2 and sailed out from Constanta Nord – Midia Port in Romania to the Akcakoca perimeter in Turkish waters.
On arrival, it was lifted and installed in one piece on the upper deck of the fixed platform by the heavy-lift crane barge GSP Neptun, using a 1,800-metric ton (1,984-ton) floating crane.
The rig will be used initially to tie back two existing wells. It has also been contracted by TPAO for two firm wells and one optional well to develop the Akcakoca gas reserves.
GSP 31 will be assisted during drilling operations by GSP Bigfoot 3, a heavy lift, work and accommodation barge, and the offshore support vessels GSP Queen and GSP Licorn.
