First Energy Launches Jack-Up Rig For MENAdrill Unit
Bahrain-based First Energy Bank (FEB) has launched its first Freide and Goldman M2 design jack-up rig, a major construction milestone for the company, it said on 28 March. The rig is in its final phase of construction and, along with its sister rig, will shortly be ready for testing and commissioning to begin operations later this year. Delivery is scheduled for 30 September. The rigs – MENAdrill Hercules I and II – are the inaugural project for the MENAdrill Investment Company, an entity set up by FEB and other shareholders to specialize in offshore drilling. “The two new MENAdrill rigs will help meet the rising demand and need for solutions to tap the region’s more difficult to reach oil and gas fields, most of which have yet to be fully explored,” said FEB CEO Vahan Zanoyan. The rigs are expected to drill in the Gulf, Indian sub-continent and South East Asia. They are designed to drill to a depth of as much as 30,000ft and to operate in up to 300ft of water. The $400mn construction contract was awarded in September 2008 to Maritime Industrial Services (MIS), Sharjah. In December 2009 FEB signed a management contract for the two rigs with Hercules Offshore Arabia, which currently operates 30 jack up rigs worldwide. MENAdrill closed its books at the end of last year to undergo restructuring so as “to ensure its viability in the new global environment,” said FEB.
Copyright MEES 2010.
