Diamond Offshore has taken delivery of the Ocean BlackHawk, the first of four new-build, ultra-deepwater drillships, from South Korea.
According to the company in its latest results report, the ship will soon be on its way to the US Gulf of Mexico, where it will begin a five-year contract with Anadarko.
Additionally, the company’s new deepwater semi-submersible, Ocean Onyx, has also been delivered by Hyundai and has started work with Apache, again in the US GoM.
Like its peers, Diamond has invested billions of dollars in new tonnage designed to capture business in the burgeoning deepwater market. The drillships have been described as “fleet changers”.
Since 2000, the company has built five ultra-deepwater rigs from existing mid-water hulls: the Ocean Confidence, Ocean Baroness, Ocean Rover, Ocean Endeavor and Ocean Monarch.
It then acquired two new-build UDW semi-submersibles, the Ocean Courage and Ocean Valor.
In 2011, three UDW drillships were ordered: Ocean BlackHawk, Ocean BlackHornet and Ocean BlackRhino.
The following year, contracts were signed for a pair of deepwater semis, the Ocean Onyx (building at AmFELS in the US) and Ocean Apex (Jurong in Singapore), plus another drillship, Ocean Black Lion (Hyundai).
Not content, last year Diamond went on to order the UDW semi- Ocean GreatWhite.
Collectively, the five upgrades, two acquisitions, and seven new-builds have enabled Diamond to increase market share, with obvious emphasis on deepwater.
BlackHawk is to be joined later this year by the BlackRhino and the Apex, followed by BlackLion next year, assuming no schedule slippages.
Key features of the four Gusto P10000 class drillships include maximum hook-load capacity of 1,250 tons; NOV drilling package, a pair of seven-ram blowout preventers, more than 22,000 tons variable deck load capacity, water depth capability to 3,657m (12,000ft) and drilling depth capability to 12,192m (40,000ft).
Ocean Onyx features include a maximum hook-load capacity of 750 tons, 15,000psi five-ram preventer, water depth capability to 11,828m (6,000ft) and drilling depth capability to 9,144m (30,000ft).
Ocean Apex will be more powerful and have a maximum hook-load capacity of 1,000 tons, but with the same BOP rating and water depth and drilling capabilities.
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