Keppel, ConocoPhillips designing jack-up

Keppel Offshore & Marine Technology Centre has announced that it and ConocoPhillips are jointly designing an ice-worthy jack-up drilling rig for use in Arctic seas.

Keppel, a Singapore-based shipbuilder and builder of mobile, offshore rigs, says that the new rig will be a “first-of-a-kind” design, suitable for towing in sea ice. The rig will be able to withstand the impacts of multi-year ice floes and ice ridges, as well as withstand sea ice up to a specified thickness, the company says. The rig will have dual cantilevers to optimize drilling operations within short time windows. The design project should be completed by the end of 2013, Keppel says.

“We are glad to partner with ConocoPhillips to jointly design this ice-worthy jack-up rig for the Arctic seas,” said Dr. Foo Kok Seng, director of the Keppel Technology Centre, on Feb. 7. “The features of this jack-up rig make it a cost-effective and promising drilling solution for the Arctic offshore. In leveraging the combined expertise, resources and research findings of Keppel O&M and ConocoPhillips, we believe that this joint project will achieve significant breakthroughs in offshore Arctic drilling.”

Davy Kong, ConocoPhillips advisor, Upstream Communications Americas, told Petroleum News in a Feb. 9 email that ConocoPhillips has no comment about the rig beyond what was in the Keppel news release. The company has said in the past that it plans to start drilling at its Devil’s Paw prospect in the Chukchi Sea in 2013 or 2014 using a jack-up rig.

—Alan Bailey