[QUOTE=Drill Bill;184693]Mmm, with all the cost-cutting and layoffs in Norway the last year(s) I’m afraid lot of it will be wishful thinking. At least in the short term.[/QUOTE]
If they should be able to drill the first well next year, and if that is a viable find, it will be 10 years before production starts, at best.
It took a lot of dry holes before they found oil and gas in the western part of the Barents Sea. Who knows it the same will prove right here to.
If I could predict the price of oil at that time (or next week) I would be a rich man.
[QUOTE=Tups;185252]Noble Discoverer in Alang:[/QUOTE]
here she lies in her deathbed
I must say though how surprised I am that Greenpeace is not protesting the selection of Alang for the ship to be scrapped but hey one fewer PILES OF SHIT in the world soon.
I must say though how surprised I am that Greenpeace is not protesting the selection of Alang for the ship to be scrapped but hey one fewer PILES OF SHIT in the world soon[/QUOTE]
I haven’t seen, or done any research, into which breaking yard is handling this one but, although she has nothing to do with Shell anymore, I wouldn’t be surprise if it is one of the approved one, as a condition put forward in the termination agreement with Noble.
Does anyone know if Noble stripped her of any or all the new machinery that was put in her for the last Shell charter?
If not you will see some fairly “young” equipment being offered on their website soon. May be worth looking into for those in the business: http://dir.indiamart.com/bhavnagar/marine-equipments.html
I haven’t seen, or done any research, into which breaking yard is handling this one but, although she has nothing to do with Shell anymore, I wouldn’t be surprise if it is one of the approved one, as a condition put forward in the termination agreement with Noble.
[QUOTE=Steamer;185756]I’m not sure the term “perfect sense” has ever, or will ever apply to anything that has an admiral or a congressman associated with it.[/QUOTE]
The US government’s line of thought will always be why spend $250 million when we can spend a Billion?
[QUOTE=Jemplayer;185904]The US government’s line of thought will always be why spend $250 million when we can spend a Billion?[/QUOTE]
That, and the fact that with very few exceptions the military mentality cannot accept anything not designed by them or for them. Not to mention that if it doesn’t cost more than the GDP of most of the world’s nations it can’t possibly be worth having under their command.
Ever notice that while O-6s are perfectly happy to fly gee whizzz jets, not one of them would be caught dead driving a tugboat.
Stena is not working in the Arctic now, but she is working. “we have the technology!” Would be a pretty site to see her in the North someday. As long as ships like Stena are making money, then there’s hope for the arctic fields, right? Are there any other ships like her?
[QUOTE=Emrobu;186484]Are there any other ships like her?[/QUOTE]
Noble has four smaller ice-strengthened drillships (two Bullies and two Globetrotters), but as far as I know, Stena Icemax is the only large drillship with high ice class extensive winterization for cold ambient temperatures.
However, all these ships are DP vessels, so their usability in shallow water is limited. SSDC can operate in water depths up to 24 m (79 ft), but now that Kulluk has been scrapped, there are no high ice class moored units.
You reckon Icemax is an experimental one-off? I’ve seen it before where Shell keeps a smaller company in business because they are interested in their special technology. It’s something good that Shell seems to do: protecting risk takers while taking relatively small risks themselves. If this one is going to pay off, it will be because the market improves during the lifetime of the Icemax. I’m nothing like a business analyst, but does this seem true?
PS> The Polar Pioneer is fully winterized and ready to drill in the ice-free part of the Arctic. Built in 1985, it is still classed as a “High specs/Harsh Environment” unit: www.deepwater.com/Documents/RigSpecs/Polar%20Pioneer.pdf
Presently laid up in Norway, ready to go.
That novel icebreaking hull from Aker is worth thinking about. I wonder if she’d be escorted by other ice breakers or what the contingency for icebergs is: if they can be pushed away by support vessels or if they force the drill ship to go off-station. I wish Canada was more of a leader in ice ship technology. We’ve got our Hibernia GBS, but just making the most brutish mass of concrete in the history of engineering doesn’t exactly qualify as clever and elegant.
[QUOTE=Emrobu;186518]I wish Canada was more of a leader in ice ship technology.[/QUOTE]
Well, there’s VARD Marine (former STX Canada Marine) that was involved in the design of the new Canadian icebreaker and recently won the contract to design an icebreaker for Chile.
