Korean Shipyard Gains Drillship Design License

KBR subsidiary Sweden's GVA signs license agreement with DSME for fabrication of semi-submersible rigs.

GVA has signed a license agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd (DSME) in Korea for the fabrication of its GVA 4000NCS, CatD Drilling Unit. The concept for the unit is tailor-made by the industry for Statoil primarily for drilling production and well completion in mature fields.

Songa Offshore, the drilling contractor, has ordered four GVA 4000NCS units to be fabricated at DSME to operate in the North Sea Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) for Statoil. The workhorse CatD is designed by GVA's experienced engineering team in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is developed together with operator and industry partners to meet a lower cost of drilling, well completion and to operate safely and efficiently.

The unit is based on the proven GVA7500 design and is able to operate at water depths up to 4,265 feet (1,300 meters) and drill wells down to 27,887 feet (8,500 meters). It is a tailor-made, semi-submersible rig for mid-water segments on the NCS, but is also applicable in other regions. The rig concept can easily be converted for work in deepwater, high-pressure, high-temperature operations as well as arctic regions.

GVA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KBR, is a marine and offshore engineering and technology company with more than 40 years of experience in the design and construction of floating offshore units, where the key areas are drilling, production and accommodation units. More than 50 percent of all newly-built, semi-submersible production and accommodation units worldwide are designed by GVA.