Laying Down a Track Record
Amundsen recalls that, although the initial contract was to supply a 365-ton (330-tonne) unit to the service semisubmersible Iolair, the first application was on Dolphin Drilling’s Bideford Dolphin, which was partially rebuilt to create a fully automated, state-of-the-art drilling semisubmersible. The unit re-entered service in 1999.
Hydro’s Oseberg East platform was the first production unit and was similarly equipped. The contract was awarded in 1997 and the work was carried out more or less in parallel. The project that courted the most headlines – and for mostly the wrong reasons – was Smedvig’s super-drillship West Navigator. Its completion suffered delays and cost overruns,largely due to the overheated deepwater MODU construction market at that time. To some extent, MH RamRig™ was tarred by that same brush. But what matters is that West Navigator has since acquitted itself extremely well.
Add the further successes aboard West Venture, Borgland Dolphin and Snorre B, and that was the first boom for MH RamRig™. “We had our challenges to execute those projects, but so did the whole industry at that time,” recalls Amundsen. “Our reputation suffered, not because there was something wrong with the technology, but through project delays. Operationally, all the rigs have been successful".
“What we’re doing today is based on this earlier experience and what we’ve learned. Importantly, what we have today is a mature technology. It’s no longer a concept. It’s for real and successful.” “Applying that operational experience, we’ve been simplifying and improving the reliability of MH RamRig™ systems. This makes commissioning, installation and testing easier too.”
“They now have a higher lifting capacity: 1,100 tons (1,000 tonnes) for the main rig and 550 tons (500 tonnes) for the auxiliary rig for the twin systems we now have on order. This compares with 700 tons (635 tonnes) and 550 tons (500 tonnes) before. Other improvements – which will be incorporated in the twin-rig packages ordered for Eastern Drilling’s West E Drill and Aker Drilling’s two H-6e sixth generation semis – include optimising equipment used to handle big lumps of metal safely, such as trees, blow-out preventer stacks, tubulars and associated equipment.
The Aker sisters will be capable of drilling 32,800-ft (10,000-m) wells in up to 9,900 ft 3,000 m) of water. They will also be equipped for operating in the Arctic. “That will mean even less manual work and more automation, especially in the moon-pool area,” says Amundsen. “This is about making drilling operations safer and more efficient.”
MH RamRig™ overview
Bottom-line Impact
The technology works, orders have flowed and the reputation appears to be very good. But what has MH RamRig™ done for the bottom line at Aker Solutions?
“By the late 1990s, its impact on turnover was significant,” says Amundsen. Moreover, our market share of fifth- and sixth-generation units has increased significantly. If you look at the orders that have been placed since mid 2005, I would say we have achieved in the order of 40-50 percent market share.” He points out that MH RamRig™ must be seen in the context of Aker Solutions' wider business. “It’s about 30 percent of what our drilling equipment business does. The largest portion of our turnover comes from conventional rigs. However, the low setback for the pipe work and low center of gravity has been adopted by a couple of drilling contractors for conventional packages.”
Looking to the future, Amundsen stresses that the company designs and develops drilling systems and associated equipment, but it no longer builds the rigs. “Whereas we ran our own yard in the 1990s, today our strategy is different and we no longer do that. Instead, we concentrate on controlling the technology and the intellectual property. We need to focus on our core business, which is delivering drilling solutions, not being the fabricators. We think others can do that better than us.”
MH RamRig™ is no different from other systems when it comes to ordering. It is either placed directly by MODU fleet owners or by yards where the contract basis is turnkey. They will generally specify what they want, either in detail or just functionality, then Aker Solutions' expertise kicks into gear.
Evolution Continues
To date, that expertise has been directed mostly at deepwater drilling units, but Amundsen also has people working on further novel lightweight solutions for use on compact production units, such as Oseberg East. Such installations are scaled to the economics of smaller fields and shallow water MODUs – though not jackups because of the current preference for cantilever drilling packages. “In the case of Oseberg East, they were looking for a compact rig because it was a very marginal field,” Amundsen says. “If they had been obliged to build a six-legged jacket, for example, the project would not have materialized. But MH RamRig™ enabled a four-legged platform to be considered. That transformed the economics of the project.”
Amundsen sees little danger of the rig market collapsing and leaving Aker Solutions stranded. In any case, the company has a healthy order book through to 2010. Even if the market was reduced, he argues that, with so many MODUs and fixed installations worldwide equipped with the company’s systems, the operations and maintenance side of the business would remain vigorous.
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