Gurdip Singh, Contributing Editor
Maersk Contractors is on a $3-billion, five-year fleet expansion and drive to venture into new markets.
Maersk Contractors CEO Claus V. Hemmingsen
“Our vision is to be a world-class company engaged in oil and gas contract drilling and production, all in an effort to assist global energy supply and economic development,” says Maersk CEO Claus V. Hemmingsen. “We are driven by the right project,” says Hemmingsen, stressing that Maersk Contractors will invest in two units at a time instead of mass production. He spoke at the launch of a jackup rig and an FPSO unit at Keppel Group’s shipyards in Singapore.
Like all rig-based investors, Maersk Contractors notes the challenge of booking construction orders for new rigs and FPSOs due to the tight yard space availability.
Maersk Contractors has just about completed its $3-billion investment commitment on nine drilling rigs and one FPSO, namedMaersk Ngujima-Yin. It made the investment over the three to four years with Keppel Offshore & Marine and Jurong Shipyards in Singapore.
Maersk Contractors Group Senior Vice President Paul Carsten Pedersen says: “Maersk and Keppel have built a longstanding partnership on mutual understanding, trust, and teamwork. We are impressed with what Keppel Shipyard has done for us on the first FPSO. It is natural to appoint Keppel Shipyard again for our latest FPSO, a project which we believe they will complete to a similarly high degree of satisfaction.
“We are now starting to take delivery of these units, having christened the FPSO for Vincent field,” he says. Maersk is scheduled to take delivery of the rest of the facilities at six monthly intervals through to 2010.
The jackupMaersk Resilient is the first in a series of four identical rigs currently under construction for Maersk Contractors.The FPSO Maersk Ngujima-Yin will be used to develop the Vincent oil discovery northwest of Australia.
Maersk Contractors also has a conversion contract with Keppel Shipyard for an additional FPSO vessel expected to be deployed in Brazilian waters. It is Maersk Contractors’ second FPSO out of Singapore. The FPSO will have a new VLCC hull that is due to arrive in the yard from China in 4Q 2008. Completion is expected by end 2009.
Hemmingsen says the latest FPSO is part of the new $3-billion investment that will see Maersk Contractors adding in the Middle East, Africa, and the Gulf of Mexico to its existing operations theaters.
Overall, Maersk Contractors is expected to add at least two FPSOs and a number of rigs as it continues its fleet expansion over the next five years. The company is likely to consider a newbuild FPSO rather than tanker conversion as tanker prices have gone as high as newbuilt units, adds Pedersen.
“The aging rig fleet requires more newbuild rigs in order to meet the technological and environmental challenges of tomorrow,” Hemmingsen points out. “The old rigs will not be able to satisfy the customers increased focus on efficiency.”
The average age of the globally deployed rigs is 25 years, he adds, as the bulk of them were built and delivered in the 1970s and early 1980s. He also underlines the industry’s focus on safety and environmental issues, which calls for new rigs.
There is a discernable push toward offshore and deeper and more remote oil and natural gas reservoirs.
“Given the need for large-scale discoveries by the oil companies, deepwater drilling activity will remain strong worldwide well into the next decade,” Hemmingsen says. “The industry is already experiencing unprecedented long-term demand visibility in core deepwater regions of the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and Brazil.” Maersk also focuses on new markets in Asia Pacific, India, Mexico, and Libya.
Maersk will focus on deepwater development drilling and as such most of its investment will be on jackups and semisubmersibles rigs, leaving out the drillship-based exploration activities.
Technology
The workscope on the fast-track outfitting of the newbuild VLCC-hull FPSO includes installation and integration of the topside modules; the fabrication, installation, and integration of the internal turret, flare tower, process piperack, and helideck; and the upgrading of the accommodation module.
The FPSO will operate in a water depth of around 100 m (328 ft) at the Peregrino field in Brazil’s Campos basin, and is capable of producing 100,000 b/d of oil with a storage capacity of 1.6 MMbbl.
The first assignment for the just completedMaersk Ngujima-Yin is with Woodside Energy Ltd. for the development of their Vincent oil discovery 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Exmouth in Western Australia. Ngujima-Yin means “to dream” in the Thalanyji language and has been chosen in consultation with the local Aboriginal tribal elders in the northwest Cape area.
The FPSO will operate at a water depth of 350 m (1,148 ft) on the Vincent field in Australia and is capable of handling production of 120,000 b/d of oil and 100 MMcf/d of gas. The storage capacity of the vessel is 1.2 MMboe.
The delivery of the FPSO marks the completion of the conversion of the tanker vesselEllen Maersk into an FPSO, which started early 2007. “Our position as a quality FPSO provider has been reinforced with the delivery of this FPSO,” says Hemmingsen. “The new FPSO is best in class and the biggest ever to work in Australia.”
On Jan. 30, 2008, Maersk Contractors named the latest addition to the fleet theMaersk Resilient. The new jackup rig is the first in a series of four identical rigs currently under construction for Maersk Contractors. The other three, next generation 350-ft (107-m) jackup rigs will be delivered from Keppel FELS over the coming 15-20 months.
“The high efficiency and safety have been the key drivers in the design of the new rigs and we look forward to proving their qualities in operation,” says Hemmingsen,
TheMaersk Resilient will be 20% more efficient than a conventional jackup. The efficient drilling equipment will qualify for drilling deep and difficult wells, including high temperature/high pressure wells, the company says.
An extensive mechanization has been implemented to further improve the safety and working environment for the crew. A total of 120 people can be accommodated on board.
The first assignment for theMaersk Resilient is a three-year contract with Dubai Petroleum Establishment in the Arabian Gulf.
Maersk Contractors also will be taking delivery of four more jackups and three semisubmersible rigs at six monthly intervals through to 2010.
Maersk Contractors took delivery of Jurong Shipyard-built jackupMaersk Completer last year, making it the first in a newbuilding program of nine high-capacity drilling rigs.
The rig is the first of two identical jackup rigs acquired by the A. P. Moller - Maersk Group in July 2006. The rig is capable of operating in water depths up to 375 ft (114 m) in most parts of the world including the harsh environment of the central and southern parts of the North Sea.
The FPSOMaersk Ngujima-Yin will be used to develop the Vincent oil discovery northwest of Australia.
The new rig is Baker Pacific Class 375 design and distances itself from conventional jackups in several areas, such as the drill floor where the highly mechanized equipment leads to increased safety for the crew.
The first assignment for theMaersk Completer is a one-year drilling contract with an option to extend the contract for another 15 months, with Total E&P Borneo at Maharaja Lela field off Brunei.
Meanwhile, Maersk Contractors has been awarded a drilling contract by Woodside Energy Ltd. for lease of a deepwater development semisubmersible to operate in Australia. The drilling contract has a duration of three years and will commence when the rig arrives in Australia in 2Q 2009.
Although substantially larger and more sophisticated, the design of the rig is based on the experiences gained from Maersk Contractors’ latest newbuilt deepwater semisubmersibleMaersk Explorer.
With its large capacities and efficient drilling equipment, the new rig is capable of drilling 10,000 m (33,000 ft) into the subsoil measured from the seabed. This makes the rig suited to drill deep and technically complicated wells as seen off the northwest coast of Australia. The rig is able to operate in water depths to 3,000 m (9,800 ft) and can maintain its station either in dynamic positioning mode or with a pre-laid mooring system.
A total of 180 people can be accommodated onboard. This will be a combination of Maersk Contractors’ rig crew and specialists from Woodside.
“We currently have an extensive business relationship with Woodside and we are looking forward to expanding this relationship even further,” says Hemmingsen.
People plans
Manpower shortage continues in the industry, and Maersk Contractors has worked out an acceleration program. It plans a workforce of 5,116 professional and trained personnel by 2012, up from 3,478 at the end of 2007.
New employees are fast-tracked to gain the necessary experience required to take up managerial positions both on- and offshore.
It has set up programs for special driller trainee; practical driller trainee; superintendent development; and Maersk International Technology and Science.
Founded in 1972, Maersk Contractors is part of the 104-year old A.P. Moller-Maersk Group with a fleet of 26 drilling rigs and five FPSOs including five high efficiency jackup rigs and three deepwater development semisubmersibles rigs.
