Far East-Levingston Delivers Drillship Diamond M Dragon
Diamond Dragon Drilling's first offshore drilling unit, the Diamond M Dragon, was recently christened at the Far East-Levingston Shipbuilding Limited's (FELS) yard in Jurong, Singapore.
The $24-million Diamond M Dragon is a self-propelled drillship.
Construction started in May 1975, and the vessel was completed in December 1976.
The vessel was christened by Mrs. Don McMahon, the wife of Don McMahon, chairman of Diamond M Drilling Co. of Houston, Texas.
Diamond Dragon Drilling N.V., incorporated in the Netherlands Antilles, is a joint venture company between Jardine International Petroleum Ltd. of Hong Kong, Fearnley & Egers Chartering Co. Ltd. of Norway, and the Diamond M Drilling Company of Houston, Texas. The company was formed to own this drillship.
Diamond M Drilling Company will be the operator of the rig.
Jardine International Petroleum, which is a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson & Co. (South East Asia) Ltd., acts as the holding or coordinating vehicle for Jardine's interests in the oil and oil service industry which also include onshore engineering and steel fabrication, offshore construction, pipelaying and maintenance and oil-field equipment marketing.
Fearnley and Egers Chartering Co. is one of the world's major shipbrokering and chartering companies and pioneered the introduction of brokering services to the offshore oil industry.
Fearnley's have an office in Houston and a joint venture with Jardine's in Singapore, providing brokering and chartering services to the offshore and related industries.
Diamond M is a major offshore drilling contractor currently operating a fleet of 23 rigs (including swamp barge, fixed platform, jackup and semisubmersible rigs), all of which are currently committed.
The addition of this drilling vessel enables them to offer all types of offshore drilling units to the oil industry. Diamond M has conducted offshore drilling operations on behalf of virtually all major oil companies.
The Diamond M Dragon is the third of its kind built by FELS.
It has a length of 362 feet, a breadth of 70 feet and a depth of 24 feet. The maximum draft during drilling operations is 18 feet 6 inches. It is designed to drill to a depth of 25,000 feet.
The drilling well measures 24 feet by 22 feet.
The powerplant consists of five General Motors, Detroit Diesel/ Allison, 16V-149-T1 engines of 1,500 hp each, coupled to five 1,428-kva, 600-volt, a-c generators, generating a total of 5,000 kw. The SCR system is a Baylor Thyrig II type, and it controls seven d-c motors, General Motors EMD-D79 AM d-c motors, and four d-c propulsion motors, General Motors EMD-D79 x 3ANB d-c motors.
Power distribution for rig service is a 600-volt, a-c system with two 1,000 kva, 600/480-volt transformers.
A 250-kw emergency generator takes over whenever the main generators are shut down.
The Diamond M Dragon is propelled by two 1,500-hp Schottel drive units and has a design speed of 8.5 knots.
The key items of drilling equipment are: Midco U1220 EBD drawworks; Wirth 49-inch rotary with independent electric drive; a Pyramid 160-foot dynamic beam derrick with a capacity of 1,300,- 000 pounds; two Wirth 7-inch by 12-inch triplex single-acting mud pumps, and a drill-string motion compensator with an 18-foot stroke. The main subsea equipment consists of a BOP stack with a Koomey control system, Vetco riser system and Rucker riser and guideline tensioners.
The mooring system uses four Brissonneau and Lotz doubledrum winches, powered by 135- hp a-c motors, providing tensioning on eight reels of 4,000-foot by 2l/4-inch wire rope and 30,000- pound anchors. It is designed for a water depth of 700 feet. There are local mooring controls, as well as instrumentation indicating line tensions.
To handle pipe, drill strings, equipment and stores, there are two 60-ton Link Belt, Model ABS 138, cranes, and one 45-ton Link Belt, Model ABS-108B, crane.
Air-conditioned quarters are provided for 110 persons.
The Diamond M Dragon carries American Bureau of Shipping Class Maltese Cross A-l, circled M, circled E AMS Drilling Unit.
Far East-Levingston Shipbuilding Limited was established in 1967, and within its short history has produced 150 vessels, including two semisubmersible mobile drilling rigs, one submersible, three jackups, five drillships, two ordinary and one jumbo tender, four supply vessels and other offshore equipment.
FELS also has the capacity to build conventional and specialized vessels up to 10,000 dwt, including bulk carriers, containerships, ro/ro vessels, cargo vessels, oil tankers, and so forth. FELS recently constructed 10 oil tankers for Burma, a jackup jetty system for Saudi Arabia, and is now constructing two multipurpose crane ships.
Other stories from February 1977 issue
Content
- SNAME Publishes New Vibration Code page: 4
- Request Aid To Build Four LNG Carriers At Cost Of $800 Million page: 6
- Rohr Outlines Plans For Design, Construction And Component Testing Of 3,000-Ton Navy SES page: 7
- John Grimwade Francis Named President Of Asiatic Petroleum Corp. page: 7
- PFEL Requests CDS To Convert Four Vessels At A Cost Of $24 Million page: 7
- Far East-Levingston Delivers Drillship Diamond M Dragon page: 7
- MarAd Approves CDS For APL To Reconstruct Four Containerships page: 7
- Western Gear Receives $3.4-Million Contract From Deepsea Ventures page: 8
- Dravo Corporation Names C.J. Donoghue page: 8
- Earle Pitt Elected Foxboro Board Chairman page: 9
- Chesterton Bulletin Describes New Coating For Marine Maintenance page: 10
- Newport News Signs Letter Of Intent To Build 600,000-DWT Nuclear-Propelled Tankers page: 10
- Calship Receives Loan To Finance Improvements page: 10
- PRMSA Appoints Lugo Executive Director page: 10
- Platner Promoted At Bethlehem Steel Corp. Baltimore Repair Yards page: 12
- Marvin Griffin Joins Matson Navigation Co. page: 13
- Electro-Nav Installs Atlas S-Band Radar On U.S.-Flag Tanker page: 13
- Peterson Receives $33.6-Million Contract For Two Heavy-Lift Ships page: 13
- Free Literature On Fire Extinguishers Available From Kidde page: 13
- SNAME San Diego Announces Site For 1980 Spring Meeting page: 13
- SNAME Philadelphia Section Hears Technical Paper On Pipelay Barge SEMAC I At Past Chairman's Night page: 14
- U.S. Navy Awards Maritime Industries Ltd. $1.7-Million Contract page: 14
- Zapata Bulk Transport Names Skeele President page: 15
- Skagit Corporation Appoints Three page: 15
- Pakistan Nationalizes Entire Merchant Fleet page: 15
- Lemont Shipbuilding Elects Roche President page: 15
- Peterson Launches CF Industries' First Integrated Tug/Barge Unit page: 16
- Texaco Announces Three Appointments In Marine Department page: 18
- Corrosion Engineers Name Bernard Schmidt page: 18
- Halter Marine Launches 180-Foot Supply Vessel For Arthur Levy Boat page: 20
- Petro-Marine Names Easley Project Manager page: 20
- Dravo Corp. Awarded $4 Million To Build Barge Unloader page: 20
- Navy To Procure Five Boeing PHM Hydrofoils Costing $282.1 Million page: 20
- Owens-Corning Booklet Describes New LNG Containment System page: 20
- Kockums Computer System Speeds Decision Making In Ship Accidents page: 21
- Equitable Shipyards Delivers First Of Five Twin-Screw Tugs To Indonesian Government page: 22
- Puerto Rico's First Shipyard Launched With $9-Million Loan page: 23
- Newport News Launches First Commercial Ship In Eight Years—LNG Carrier El Paso Southern page: 24
- SNAME New York Metropolitan Section Holds First 1977 Meeting—Jakobson Honored page: 24
- PFEL Accepts Bethlehem Bid Of $20 Million For Ship Conversion page: 25
- Martin Named President Of Korea Gulf Oil Co. page: 25
- Newport News To Double Capacity For Repairing Commercial Vessels page: 26
- R.A. Baker To Head New Hillman Company page: 26
- Lykes Bros. Elects R. Koch And L. Guerin Corporate Officers page: 27
- General Steamship Corp. Announces Promotions page: 27
- SNAME Publishes Full Computer Analysis Of Shipping Operations page: 27
- Tano Gets Contract For Vessel Control Systems page: 32
- APL Makes Personnel Promotions Worldwide page: 32
- Bethlehem's Sparrows Point Yard Delivers 530,000 DWT In 1976 page: 32
- Hydranautics Trans-Lift Systems Move 12-Story-High LNG Spheres page: 33
- Port Of N.Y. & N.J. Directory Available page: 33
- Jeffboat Lays Keel For 200-Foot Ferryboat To Operate On Mississippi At New Orleans page: 33
- International Paint Enters Commercial Agreement With Nippon Paint Co. page: 33
- Brown & Root Names Executive Committee To Manage Company page: 33
- Roland Kjelland Named Executive Vice President Kaiser Steel Corp. page: 34
- Newport News Shipyard Apprentice School Graduates First Women page: 34
- Agri-Trans Corporation Christens New Towboat— The St. Louis-Built Cooperative Venture page: 35
- Paducah Marine Ways Names Louis J. Roof page: 35
- The Whitehall Club Honors George W. Rogers page: 35
- 630-Foot Hydranautics Portable Pier Erected And Unloading Ships In 66 Hours page: 36
- Oil Mop's Method Of Cleaning Studied By French Delegation page: 36
- Ben Nutter Retires- Port Of Oakland Appoints Abernathy page: 36
- AquaBeam Appoints Arnessen Marine page: 37
- Liberian Shipping Council Elects Liang Chairman, Presses Safety Program page: 37
- Kurz Interests And Moran Shipping Agencies Organize New Agency page: 38
- MarAd Transfers Mitchell To Washington page: 38
- MarAd Publishes Std. Specifications For Diesel Ship Construction page: 39
- Cryogenic Control Valves Offer Economies At Subzero Temperatures page: 40
- R.D. Carter Forms Intermodal Systems Co. page: 40
- PRMSA Names Irizarry Deputy Executive Director page: 40
- Abex/Denison Introduces New Trimline Family Of Hydraulic Pumps page: 41
- Offshore Technology Conference Scheduled For May 2-5 In Houston page: 41
- Alden Data Sheet Lists Marine Weather Chart Transmitting Sites page: 41
- E.M. Hood Reports Shipbuilders Optimistic Over Long-Term Future page: 42
- Marathon Receives Contract For 300-Foot Drilling Tender page: 42
- Seatrain Agencies Names J.W. Honan VP page: 42
- Prudential Lines Appoints Assistant Traffic Managers page: 42
- Astilleros Espanoles Designs Versatile 12,000-DWT Ro/Ro Ship For Multiple Production page: 43
- SNAME Los Angeles Section Told Of Plans For Commercial Development Of The Oceans page: 43
- Maynard Designs Two-Year Expansion Plan For Venezuela Shipyard page: 43
- Cali Furnishing Tacoma NC Lofting Services page: 43
- Graduate Students Present Papers To SNAME New England Section page: 44
- Delta Steamship Lines Names Dale Miller page: 44
- Winthrop A. Wyman Named Executive Vice President Gulf Marine Management page: 44
- Western Shipbuilders Elect Alfred Moloney Association President page: 44
- Gulf Trading & Transportation Promotes W. Stark And J. Allen page: 45
- Velodur Coldwelding Can Cut Costly Repairs page: 45
- Security Bureau Elects W.J. Shields President page: 45
- ICHCA Appoints Finlay New Secretary General page: 46
- Staff Additions And Changes Announced By ACBL page: 47
- Harold Neville Named Chief Design Engineer Portsmouth Naval Yard page: 48
- Saint John Shipbuilding Completes Trials Of 38,000-DWT Tanker M / V Dolores Swann page: 48
- First Of Two New Tugs Joins Wijsmuller Fleet For Servicing North Sea Oil Production Units page: 49
- San Francisco Area Sections Of SNAME And ASNE Told Of Business Problems In Ship Maintenance page: 49
- Spiltrol Harbor Skimmer Delivered page: 49
- Rep. McCloskey And Patterson Address California Chapter Of Kings Point Alumni Assoc. page: 50
- ASARCO Donates Lead For Full-Scale Replica Of Famous Colonial Sloop page: 50
- Equitable Ships First Tug To Indonesia On Louise Lykes page: 51
- International Paint Appoints Two Specialists In Coatings page: 52
- SNAME Pacific Northwest Section Honors Members And Views 'Arctic Sealift Expedition, 1975' page: 52
- MacGregor Describes Cost Saving Hatch Cover page: 52