The drilling subsidiary of Gulf International Services (GIS) has awarded $110million-worth of contracts to a partnership between Qatar’s premier gas shipper Nakilat and Singapore’s rig constructor Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM).
The award by Qatar’s largest oilfield service company covers two marine contracts, including the construction of a self-propelled and self-elevating liftboat, customised for field transit operations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in water depths of up to 65 metres.
The liftboat is set to provide accommodation and platform support services for operations in Qatar, when it is completed at the end of next year.
The LB310-design liftboat will be equipped with two deck cranes, a large open deck space of around 800 square metres, a helideck, and accommodation capacity for 130 persons.
It can be used for well servicing, commissioning, maintenance and decommissioning of offshore platforms.
“Today marks an important milestone in the development of the State of Qatar’s offshore industry with placing the order for the first built-in-Qatar liftboat,” said the country’s Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada.
“It also highlights the impressive growth of our offshore industry and of the Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard.”
The deal also covers a six-year repair and maintenance contract for GIS’ existing fleet of jack-up rigs operating in the Middle East.
“N-KOM has delivered a significant number of repairs for Gulf Drilling International (GDI)’s offshore drilling fleet over the past three years and we have come to intimately understand their requirements,” said Abdullah Fadhalah Al Sulaiti, chairman of N-KOM.
“Having already established ourselves in the ship repair market, our next step is to capture the robust regional offshore market by leveraging Nakilat and Keppel Offshore & Marine’s expertise to provide quality and value-added offshore solutions.
“In this regard, we are committed to deliver a high-quality liftboat to GDI to support their offshore fleet.”