China Shipbuilding Gets Order To Build Jackup Rig For Santa Fe

Santa Fe International Corporation recently announced that it has awarded shipyard contracts f o r the construction of a jackup drilling unit and the conversion of two construction barges into drilling vessels.

The new jackup, Santa Fe Rig 134, will be built by China Shipbuilding Corporation in Taiwan.

Delivery is scheduled for December 1981. A modified version of the Friede & Goldman L-780, the new jackup will be identical in design to Santa Fe Rig 127, which is scheduled to be delivered f r o m the same shipyard next April. Both units will be capable of drilling i n i t i a l l y in w a t er depths to 250 feet and, with future leg extensions, can work in water 300 feet deep.

Barges to be converted to drilling units are the Choctaw I, a semisubmersible derrick/pipelaying barge, and the Shawnee, a platform launch barge. The Choctaw I, built in 1969 as the world's first semisubmersible construction barge, has been committed to a major oil company f o r a two-year exploratory program starting off Africa in mid-1981, immediately after conversion of the vessel to the drilling mode.

Avondale Shipyards, Inc., New Orleans, has been awarded a contract to remove the vessel's crane and pipelaying gear. While this work is under way, Vemar, Inc.

of Channelview, Texas, is fabricating a substructure f o r the drilling rig.

Vemar also has been awarded a contract for conversion of the Shawnee into a floating swamp drilling barge. This project is scheduled to be completed next March. The unit is committed to a V e n e z u e l a n c o m p a n y f o r a three-year contract.

Other stories from November 1980 issue

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First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.