Gulf Drilling International (GDI) has awarded two contracts worth US$110mn to Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (N-KOM), a joint venture shipyard between Nakilat and Singapore’s Keppel O&M
GDI said that the first contract is for the construction of a self-propelled and self-elevating liftboat, which is customised for field transit operations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in water depths of up to 65 metres.
When completed at the end of 2015, the liftboat will provide accommodation and platform support services for a customer with operations in Qatar, The Peninsula reported.
Designed by Bennett Offshore, a naval architecture and marine engineering arm of Keppel O&M, in collaboration with N-KOM, the LB310- design liftboat can undertake a wide range of services such as well servicing, commissioning, maintenance and decommissioning of offshore platforms.
The customised liftboat is equipped with two deck cranes, a large open deck space of around 800 sq m, a helideck and accommodation capacity for 130 persons. The liftboat also allows for a specially designed gangway bridge to link it to the customer’s platform for emergency escape and other safety purposes.
N-KOM has also been awarded a six-year repair and maintenance contract for GDI’s existing fleet of jack-up rigs operating in the Middle East.
This will be the fourth vessel in GDI’s fleet that is dedicated to providing accommodation and platform support services. The other vessels in GDI’s fleet include the liftboat Rumailah, the accommodation jack-up Zikreet and another liftboat that GDI is managing through a charter party.
Al Sada, Qatar’s minister of energy and industry, said, “This marks an important milestone in the development of Qatar’s offshore industry with placing the order for the first built-in-Qatar liftboat. It also highlights the impressive growth of our offshore industry and of the Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard where N-KOM is located.”
Abdullah Fadhalah Al Sulaiti, chairman of N-KOM, added that N-KOM has delivered a significant number of repairs for GDI’s offshore drilling fleet over the past three years and we have come to intimately understand their requirements.
“Having already established ourselves in the ship repair market, our next step is to capture the robust regional offshore market by leveraging on Nakilat and Keppel O&M’s expertise to provide quality and value-added offshore solutions. In this regard, we are committed to deliver a high-quality liftboat to GDI to support their offshore fleet,” Al Sulaiti said.
According to Ibrahim J Al Othman, CEO of GDI, the liftboat will add to the growing fleet of quality rigs, which N-KOM would be maintaining for the Qatari company.
