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.