Dockwise Liftboats to Transport New Statoil Offshore Rigs

Dockwise, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) inform it has been awarded a contract by Statoil Petroleum AS for the transportation of two very large new jack-up drilling rigs from Korean shipbuilders to the North Sea, said to be the largest and heaviest jack-up rigs ever to be transported on a heavy marine transport vessel.

The two rigs are on order with a South Korean yard and are scheduled to be transported to Norway between the second half 2016 and the second half 2017. Dockwise will deploy two of its largest Heavy Marine Transport vessels: the Blue Marlin and her sister vessel the new White Marlin, which will be put into service later this year.

Statoil's decision to award the contract was based on several criteria. One of them was the ability of Dockwise to provide two large identical Heavy Marine Transport vessels within the same timeframe.

The energy major will deploy the new Cat-J rigs to contribute in production drilling on Gullfaks and Oseberg. The new rigs will be able to operate at water depths from 70 to 150 meters and drill wells down to 10,000 meters. These two rigs, explain Dockwise, are tailor-made for operations in harsh environment for both surface- and subsea wells.

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