Neptune Marine Oil & Gas has completed a US$340 million upgrade of its deepwater drillship, the Neptune Explorer. The Pelican Class drillship, acquired in April 2005, has undergone major upgrading and reactivation works at the Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore. Sembawang Shipyard is a subsidiary of Singapore-listed Sembcorp Marine Ltd.

The ship has been named at a ceremony by Guest of Honour, Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of National Development, and Ministry of Education.

After almost 36 months of upgrading and conversion, the Neptune Explorer is now a dynamically positioned deepwater drilling rig with a variable deckload of 7,220 metric tonnes. It is equipped to work in water depths of up to 5,000 ft.

The overhaul of the drillship included the installation of a new fifth-generation drilling package comprising a 1 ½ derrick with an effective pipe handling system which includes offline stand-building capabilities and cyberbase control system.

Other upgrades involved a complete overhaul of the marine system as well as the installation of a new power generation system giving a max continuous power output of 25,500 kW, and a new helicopter deck rated for S-92 or equivalent.

Commenting on the completion of the Neptune Explorer’s upgrade, Mr. Hans Van Royen, CEO of Neptune Marine Oil & Gas, said: “The reactivation and upgrade of the drillship reflects a milestone for the Neptune Group. We believe that as the global economy recovers, so will the appetite for oil and gas exploration services such as deepwater drilling. Already, we have received interest from several parties and are in active discussions to redeploy the Neptune Explorer.”

Tags: Neptune Marine Oil and Gas