Maersk has taken delivery of the last in a series of three identical ultra-deepwater development semi-submersible drilling rigs constructed at Keppel FELS in Singapore.
Commenting on the current market for heavy-duty tonnage, Claus V. Hemmingsen, CEO at Maersk Drilling, said: “The demand for modern drillings rigs has increased over the past years concurrently with the growing technical challenges we are faced with in the drilling industry.
“The search for new finds is moving to deeper waters and areas with complex soil conditions, and more advanced drilling rigs are needed to meet those challenges.
“Our ultra-deepwater semi-submersibles are well equipped to meet this demand.
“Although the activity in the deepwater market was not unaffected by the economic slowdown in 2008 and 2009, the favourable long-term oil-price outlook will be supportive for exploration and development drilling in the deepwater segment, and we expect to see high demand for deepwater rigs going forward.”
The DSS 21-class semi-submersible is capable of drilling to a depth of 10,000m (30,000ft) from the seabed and operate in water depths to 10,000m, either in dynamic-positioning mode or lying to a spread of anchors.
This makes the rig particularly well suited to drill deep and technically complicated wells in areas such as West Africa, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and south-east Asia.
Maersk intends to name the rig at a ceremony on May 16. Sister rigs are the Maersk Developer and the Maersk Discoverer.