Diamond Offshore to spend $250 million on rig upgrade

Ray Tyson

Contract drilling company Diamond Offshore plans to spend $250 million to upgrade its semi-submersible Ocean Endeavor so the deepwater rig can operate in water depths up to 10,000 feet, the company said Jan. 10.

“We have made the decision to move forward on the Endeavor upgrade based upon our confidence in the strength of the market,” said Larry Dickerson, Diamond’s president and chief operating officer. The Endeavor, currently cold stacked in the Gulf of Mexico, will be moved to and upgraded at the Keppel-FELS shipyard in Singapore, the company said.

When work is completed and the rig is ready for delivery in about two years, Endeavor will be “the most capable of the company’s upgraded Victory-class units,” Diamond said, adding that the upgraded rig will expand the company’s fifth generation semi-submersible fleet to four units.

Endeavor will have increased crew quarters’ capacity, more than 6,000 tons of operating variable deck load, and more than twice the useable deck space compared to the design of the previously upgraded Ocean Rover and Ocean Baroness, the company said.

Endeavor also will employ the same Tripsaver technology that is at work on the Rover and Baroness, “which provides for significant drilling efficiencies,” the company added.

“The estimated construction cost of this unit is significantly below new-build costs, and the relatively short construction schedule represents a large delivery advantage over new builds,” Dickerson said.

Diamond’s fleet of 45 offshore drilling rigs consists of 30 semi-submersibles, 14 jack-ups and one drillship.