Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - transocean

Azimuth Thrusters have been propelling deepwater drillships for a number of years now. Not only do they propel the drillships from ports to their drilling stations but also undertake the vital task of maintaining the ship’s position during drilling operations. As most people know deepwater drillships do not anchor but maintain dynamic positioning through the use of groups of thrusters. Depending on the size of the drillship, these may be grouped in threes or fours, and are always positioned fore and aft on traditional drillships. These dispositions vary in semi-submersible drillers and cylindrical drillers such as those developed and used by Sevan Drilling.

The seabed oil spill that is still ongoing next to the Frade oil field in the Campos Basin is again raising the local awareness to the inherent dangers associated with O&G exploration. As many politicians and environmentalists hit the panic button, this kind of spill is, if not expected, is a definite possibility. There is simply no failsafe way to drill for oil and when the actual drilling is done underwater the risks compounded and the time it takes to resolve the issue is also increased. As this particular spill is a deep water event 1,200 meters deep it may not be so easy to stop and Chevron, the well operator has already taken steps to shut down the well permanently, this may also point to a loss of well control and a possible blowout.

The sheer amount of orders already placed and expected for drill ships and rigs is pushing the new Brazilian shipbuilding industry into raising its game in order to compete for driller orders.Petrobras alone is responsible for ordering a total of 28 drill ships of which 9 have already gone through the tendering process and will soon start being built. Transocean is building 9 drill ships at international shipyards, including the Petrobras 10,000 drillship at the Samsung shipyard in South Korea, the ship being already pegged for a 10 year service contract with Petrobras. Noble has 3 drill ships and 2 drill rigs slated to start five to six year contracts with Petrobras.