April 2009 Vol. 236 No. 4

Projects

Transocean Drillships En Route To Gulf

Transocean’s Discoverer Clear Leader left the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. (DSME) shipyard in South Korea on March 26 for Singapore.

It will arrive in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in late May and is scheduled to begin work under a five-year contract with Chevron.

The vessel features Transocean’s patented dual-activity drilling technology. The dual-technology, along with an enhanced top-drive system, an expanded high-pressure mud-pump system, expanded completions capabilities and other unique features make the drillship suited to drill wells to a total depth of 40,000 feet. The rig will have a variable deckload of more than 20,000 metric tons and be capable of working in water depths of up to 12,000 feet.

Discoverer Clear Leader is the first of Transocean’s 10 ultra-deepwater new-build rigs to leave the shipyard, including five enhanced Enterprise-class new-build drillships.