Dome Petroleum Orders Drill From Cammed Laird Yard

Dome Petroleum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has placed an order for a semisubmersible drilling rig, design GVA 4000 (shown above) with Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, U.K. Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Ltd.

is a subsidiary of British Shipbuilders. The rig is of Gotaverken Arendal design GVA 4000; it will be constructed under license from Gotaverken Arendal, Sweden, and in close cooperation between the two yards.

The rig is intended for drilling in the very rough areas north of the Shetland Islands in the North Sea. Dome Petroleum has a charter contract with the British oil compay Sovreign Co., which has recently been selected operator of Block No. 219 north of the 62nd parallel. Sovreign is partly owned by Dome Petroleum.

In March 1981, a contract was signed between Gotaverken Arendal and Wilh. Wilhelmsen, Norway, to deliver a rig of this design in December 1982. Wilh. Wilhelmsen has a long-term charter contract with Saga Petroleum, Norway, for operation north of the 62nd parallel.

This rig, developed and designed by Gotaverken Arendal, represents a completely new design. It is a four-columned semisubmersible drilling rig whose main features are the large deck load capacity and positive seakeeping characteristics.

GVA 4000 has a variable deck load capacity above 4,000 tons in normal as well as in survival conditions. This exceeds the capacity of all rigs in the market. It is also the only rig that, without losing its deck load capacity, meets all the existing, new, and foreseeable demands on stability and safety put up by Norwegian authorities.

The GVA 4000 rig has a drilling depth of 25,000 feet, water depth of 2,000 feet, length overall of 280 feet 10 inches, beam overall of 252 feet, height to main deck of 134 feet 6 inches and height to lower deck of 108 feet 3 inches.

The features of GVA 4000 have raised a large interest among oil companies and drilling contractors. The license agreement between Gotaverken Arendal and Cammell Laird opens new opportunities to get access to the British offshore sector. In the course of 1981 Gotaverken Arendal therefore expects to sign new contracts for this type of rig.

Other stories from July 1981 issue

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