Ocean Rig Signs Contract for a 7th Generation Drillship... huh?

Ocean Rig announced on Monday that it signed a contract to construct a 7th Generation Ultra Deepwater Drillship at Samsung Heavy Industries, a sister ship to the three currently under construction at Samsung. Delivery is expected in Jan 2015.

That’s great and all, but seriously, when did contractors start building 7th Generation rigs and more importantly, what’s the difference between 6th Gen and 7th Gen?

Btw, I sent an inquiry into Ocean Rig, but haven’t heard back yet.

Went to my friend Wikipedia to see what might be there and found this pathetic Coors Light piss water is all they have on the subject:

A drillship is a maritime vessel that has been fitted with drilling apparatus. It is most often used for exploratory offshore drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep water or for scientific drilling. The drillship can also be used as a platform to carry out well maintenance or completion work such as casing and tubing installation or subsea tree installations. It is often built to the design specification of the oil production company and/or investors, but can also be a modified tanker hull outfitted with a dynamic positioning system to maintain its position over the well.

The greatest advantages these modern drillships have is their ability to drill in water depths of more than 2500 m and the time saved sailing between oilfields worldwide. Drillships are completely independent, in contrast to semi-submersibles and jackup barges.

In order to drill, a marine riser is lowered from the drillship to the seabed with a blowout preventer (BOP) at the bottom that connects to the wellhead.

Drillships are just one way to perform exploratory drilling. This function can also be performed by semi-submersibles, jackup barges, barges, or platform rigs.

The first drillship was the Cuss 1, and the fleet size has been growing ever since. By 2013 the worldwide fleet of drillships is expected to top 80 ships, more than double its size in 2009. Drillships are not only growing in size but also in capability with new technology assisting operations from academic research to ice drilling. U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision in late March 2010 to expand U.S. domestic exploratory drilling seems likely to increase further developments of drillship technology.

Stena drillings ‘DrillMAX ICE’ being constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea is to be the most expensive drillship built to date and is to complete exploration in Arctic regions when completed in 2012

I have two missions before me now to decide whether to accept and those are to make the supreme effort to update that old list of drillships on order or under construction and to rewrite this Wiki entry. Oh well, sitting here now for three weeks with not much to do otherwise so no time like the present.

Good to know that mankind needs c.captain at this desperate hour!

NEVER FEAR UNDERDOG IS HERE!

[QUOTE=rob;85893]Ocean Rig announced on Monday that it signed a contract to construct a 7th Generation Ultra Deepwater Drillship at Samsung Heavy Industries, a sister ship to the three currently under construction at Samsung. Delivery is expected in Jan 2015.

That’s great and all, but seriously, when did contractors start building 7th Generation rigs and more importantly, what’s the difference between 6th Gen and 7th Gen?

Btw, I sent an inquiry into Ocean Rig, but haven’t heard back yet.[/QUOTE]

The DGD “Dual Gradient Drilling” rigs that have come out have been dubbed 7th generation.

Well doing a simple web search, it appears that almost all the ships ordered within at least 12 months have been termed “7th generation”. ENSCO, Atwood, SeaDrill are all using that term in their press releases but specifically I will defer to anchorman’s definition as to what specifically makes a drillship a 7th gen.

Yes the DGD drillships are 7th gen and the enviro friendly upgrades. Usually generations are dictated by drilling equipment upgrades.

So are we sure yet what makes a 7th gen drillship a 7th gen drillship? Is it the DGD capabilities?

Their aren’t really 7th generation rigs. Dual activity, dual BOP rigs are still sixth gen.

Their are only 2 DGD rigs in the world, therefore we can’t really call them the defining point of a new generation.