Local oil company to construct new drilling rigs

Drydocks World has entered into a deal with Malta Oil and Gas Limited for the construction of two new jack-up drilling rigs. The two companies came to the agreement on Monday of this week, with a press release being sent out this morning.

The deal was signed by the chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World, Khamis Juma Bu Ameem, and Paul Robert Thomson of Malta Oil and Gas Limited.

“The upstream oil and gas sector is evolving at a rapid pace to create robust demand for new offshore drilling rigs,” Bu Ameem said, adding that the company had made “deep inroads in sophisticated engineering and construction”.

“The company is fully geared to fulfil the rise in demand for the latest, most sophisticated and highly specialized drilling rigs for deepwater exploration,” he said.

The model of the rigs are Gusto MSC CJ54-X135-A and the unit can operate in water depths of up to 450ft as its leg length is 180.6m and dimensions measuring 76m x 76m.

The highly improved gadgetry will be capable of drilling High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) wells. Also, the unit can house 150 people at one time and has a chopper deck for parking a S61N or S92 helicopter.