The Transocean semi-submersible drilling rigs JW McLean and GSF Arctic III are on their way to scrappers in Turkey.
Both North Sea veterans departed the Cromarty Firth last month, never to return. They are the first of the 19 or so Transocean rigs, due for scrapping and mostly located in European and US waters, known to have headed off to face the cutting torch.
Their massive build and basic fit-out means that the level of steel and equipment recycling will be very high.
GSF Arctic III was built in Finland to a Friede & Goldman design and was delivered in 1984.
One of its final jobs was with Chevron last year, drilling a pair of UK sector wells at a robust dayrate of $410,000 per day. The contract value was $48million.
JW McLean was built in the US at the famous Bethlehem Pennsylvania Shipyard, a Zapata design, and entered service in 1974.
One of its last jobs was in 2010 when it was hired by tiny Stirling Resources to carry out appraisal drilling on the Cladhan field discovery.
In 2011, Transocean said it was putting the JWM into lay-up in the Cromarty Firth.
Transocean’s list of offshore rigs scheduled for disposal stood around the 19 mark at our last count in May.
The total list at that time comprised: Deepwater Expedition, GSF Arctic III, GSF Explorer, Discoverer Seven Seas, Sedco 710, Sovereign Explorer, Sedco 700, Sedco 601, JW McLean, GSF Arctic I, Falcon 100, Sedneth 701, Sedco 703, Sedco 709, C K Rhein, Jr. SF Aleutian Key and Sedco 70, plus Transocean Legend and Transocean Rather.
Meanwhile, Maersk Drilling has decided to decommission the jack-up rig Maersk Endurer from the fleet and to scrap it at Zhoushan Changhong International Ship Recycling in China.
Indeed, the unit should have already arrived at the facility for chopping up.
Morten Pilnov, head of global sales at the company, said in a statement: “Given the current market situation and the over supply of drilling rigs in the offshore market, there is a strong need to retire older rigs. Therefore, Maersk Drilling has decided to decommission its oldest rig in the fleet, Maersk Endurer.
“It is Maersk Drilling’s ambition to decommission Maersk Endurer in a safe and responsible way with minimal environmental impact. Maersk Drilling has furthermore engaged Sea2Cradle to carry out inspections and supervise the entire process.
“We chose this option because we consider it to be the safest and most cost-effective approach, with the lowest environmental risks. Zhoushan Changhong International Ship Recycling is a state-of-the-art rig recycling facility, and the facility complies with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships and the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation.”
Maersk Endurer was designed by Baker Marine Services, built in Japan by Nippon Kokan and delivered in 1984. It most recently worked offshore Cameroun, West Africa.
On a brighter note, Maersk Drilling has been awarded a 16-month contract extension by ConocoPhillips covering further use of the jack-up Maersk Innovator in the Eldfisk field. Contract extension value is said to be $142million.
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