A NEW generation drillship developed by Shell with Frontier Drillships, a subsidiary of Frontier Drilling is about to make its debut in the US Gulf of Mexico working in the super-major’s Mars B oilfield development.
This is much later than had been anticipated as the vessel was originally scheduled to enter service last year.
Bully I, the first of two sisters ordered, will fly the Noble Drilling pennant as Noble acquired Frontier mid-2010 in a deal worth $2.16billion.
The Bully class is designed to handle both deepwater and Arctic work. It is said to offer a flexible, smaller but highly capable, vessel with lower construction and operational costs compared to current new-build drilling rigs of similar capability.
This new generation concept is based on GustoMSC’s PRD 12000 drillship design. Vital statistics are 187.5m (615ft) length overall, 32m (105ft) breadth, 15.06m (49ft) depth and a displacement of around 45,000 tonnes.
The first two sisters are equipped to drill in water depths to 2,514m (8,250ft) using a conventional marine riser and, with a pressurised riser, to 3,657m (12,000ft).
Other key features include Huisman multi-purpose drilling tower and a thruster retrieval system.
The six generation drillship was originally scheduled to drill in the Arctic Chukchi and Beaufort Seas for Shell. However, various issues, not least reverberations from the BP Macondo disaster in the US Gulf last year, has delayed start-up of exploratory drilling in that sector of the North American Arctic.
Having been switched to a different debut task, Bully I is no less capable of handling Mars B drilling.
The field is located at Mississippi Canyon block 807, where Shell is installing the Olympus tension leg platform (TLP).
The purpose of the Olympus TLP is to enhance recovery from the Mars reservoir, plus provide process infrastructure for two of Shell’s recent deepwater discoveries, West Boreas and South Deimos. Ultimately, it will draw production from eight Mississippi Canyon blocks – 762, 763, 764, 805, 806, 807, 850, and 851.
Bully I is reported to be going on contract with Shell at a day rate of $440,000 to $445,000.
Bully 2, also owned by Shell with Noble, is due to depart Singapore next month for Brazil, where it will also go to work for the super-major under a 10-year contract.