Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 15, 1981)

ON THE COVER

Submersible Drilling Barge "The Mr. Ray'

Christened At McDermott Yard

The Phoenix Seadrill Rig 3 —

The Mr. Ray—an all-new slotted- type submersible posted drilling barge built by McDermott Inc. shipyard, New Iberia, La., was christened recently at ceremonies held at the yard.

The rig can drill below 30,000 feet in nominal 7- to 21-foot wa- ter depths. It is one of very few rigs sized for the intracoastal waterway that has the capability to drill multiple wells within its slot without repositioning the hull.

The Mr. Ray was christened by

Mrs. Ray Hargrove, wife of the person for whom the rig is named, the late father of William R. Har- grove, board chairman of Phoenix

Management Corp. Frederick L.

Saalwachter, executive vice pres- ident of Phoenix, delivered the address, and the Rev. John Mac- kinnon, pastor of Memorial Drive

United Methodist Church, Hous- ton, delivered the blessing of the rig and its crews.

The Mr. Ray is a 209-foot 6-inch-long by 14-foot deep, by 54-foot wide submersible barge having a 15-foot-wide by 40-foot- long slot in the stern. The unit is equipped with a skid unit built to allow transverse and longitu- dinal movement of the intact mast and drill floor to as much as 4 feet off centerline port and star- hoard, and to as much as 8 feet fore and aft. The movement is accomplished by activation of hy- draulic cylinder jacks.

Power generation for the drill- ing unit is from two Electro-

Motive diesel Model MD16E8 ma- rine drilling units. Each unit is rated 1,550 kw, 2,000 kva, 0.8 pf, 600 v, 3-phase, 60 hertz, with the prime mover being an EMD- 16-645E8 diesel engine rated 2,200-hp maximum at 900 rpm, and the prime generator being an EMD HB20-6 brushless ac synchronous generator.

The rig has two Stewart &

Stevenson Model 16VGDT-540 generator sets. The prime mover is a Detroit Diesel 16V-71T die- sel engine rated 685-hp maxi- mum at 1,800 rpm and the prime generator is a Delco brushless ac synchronous generator.

The two deck cranes are Unit

Mariner 280H offshore marine pedestal cranes each ABS certi- fied. Each crane is rated 28,620 pounds lift at 30 feet. Each is equipped with 50-foot lattice type booms with 5-foot boom tip ex- tension. The main hoist is 10,000 pounds single line pull having a 15 ton 2 sheave main hook block.

The auxiliary hoist is a 7,500- pound single line pull having a 5-ton ball with swivel and hook.

Each crane is hydraulically driv- en. The port crane is equipped with controls on a crane pedestal.

The starboard crane is equipped with remote controls located on the rig floor.

William R. Hargrove, the Phoe- nix Management Corporation board chairman, reports that a jackup unit, Rig No. 5, is under construction at Bethlehem Steel's

Sparrows Point, Md., yard, and that three other units are in var- ious stages of planning or design for the company.

Phoenix has purchased the equipment and entered into a contract for a Bethlehem JU- 100MC. This rig will be a jackup mobile drilling unit with a canti- levered skid floor and skirted mat. It is intended to operate in the Gulf of Mexico, or in areas of similar environment, within a maximum sinking depth of 100 feet while drilling routine wells to 20,000 feet. Rig 5 is scheduled to be delivered during July 1982.

The Phoenix Seadrill Rig 4 will be capable of drilling 20,000 feet.

This rig is a first of a kind uti- lizing a three-module hovercraft principal as a wetlands drill barge system. It has been more than 16 months in design and engineering development in the U.S. and in

England by the Phoenix Hover- craft Corporation. "As soon as we are comfortable with certain patents and licenses," Mr. Har- grove reported, "the final design phase shall be concluded. Ma- chinery has already been com- mitted, and we anticipate a 12- month construction by Brown &

Root." This project is very much alive and Rig 4 shall be built,

Mr. Hargrove stated.

Herman Schellstede and Asso- ciates, Inc. is under contract to develop and engineer a submers- ible offshore drilling rig design for Phoenix Seadrill Rig 6. The design criteria is for Smackover and Tuscaloosa-like drilling year around in the northern coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Six shipyards have been asked to bid on construction. The critical ma- chinery has already been com- mitted, Mr. Hargrove said, and

Rig 6 will be scheduled for a christening the first quarter of 1983.

Phoenix Seadrill Rig 7 will be a jackup designed to stav on lo- cation in water greater than 300 feet deep during hurricane sea- son in the Gulf of Mexico. Its drilling capabilities will be to 20,000 feet. Here, as with all of these future rigs, major equip- ment has already been commit- ted, he said. Good rapport exists with a highly competent ship- yard for its delivery to Phoenix in March 1983. As soon as nego- tiations are concluded, Mr. Har- grove said, details will be given and a public announcement shall be made.

The company has two jackup units operating in the Gulf of

Mexico, and the Mr. Ray is under contract to Koch Exploration Co. for drilling in Louisiana waters.

Tidewater Elects Bankston President,

Koock, Ramey Are New VPs

Tidewater Inc., New Orleans,

La., announced the election of

Damon B. Bankston as president and chief operating officer, and

Victor I. Koock and William J.

Ramey as vice presidents.

Mr. Bankston, former senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Tidewater

Inc., succeeds John P. Laborde who will remain as chairman and chief executive officer, a position he has held for the past 25 years.

A native of Dawson, Texas, and graduate of Louisiana State

University, Mr. Bankston joined

Tidewater Inc.—then named Tide- water Marine Service, Inc. — as sales manager in 1958, and in 1960 was promoted to vice presi- dent. In 1965 he was named to the company's board of directors and three years later was elected executive vice president. In 1979 he became senior executive vice president and chief operating of- ficer.

Mr. Bankston is currently a di- rector of the Employers Infor- mation Service, Inc., and is a past chairman and member of the board of directors of the Off- shore Marine Association and the

Damon B. Bankston

National Ocean Industries Asso- ciation.

Mr. Koock, vice president-legal and president of Pental Insurance

Co. Ltd., the insurance subsidiary of Tidewater Inc., is in charge of the company's general legal af- fairs, including contract admin- istration, admiralty, general civil law, government regulations, la- bor and claims.

A native of New York, N.Y.,

Mr. Koock earned a B.S. degree in biology from the University

William J. Ramey Victor I. Koock

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