A force majeure notice was delivered to the government of Ghana and Ghana National Petroleum Corp. after an anchor- handling accident damaged the rig, Dallas-based Kosmos said today in a statement. The Marianas was scheduled to arrive July 10 for drilling, Kosmos said.
Kosmos said it anticipates that either the Marianas or a substitute rig will be “available soon” to drill the Cedrela-1 well in the West Cape Three Points Block. Transocean, based in Vernier, Switzerland, reported yesterday it evacuated 108 of 121 workers on the rig after it took on water while preparing to leave an Eni SpA drilling site off Ghana.
The market for deep-water rigs in that part of the world is so tight that Kosmos will likely have to wait at least a month for a comparable drilling vessel, said Brian Uhlmer, an analyst at Global Hunter Securities in Houston. Moving an unused rig from the Gulf of Mexico could take about 45 days.
Posts Tagged ‘Transocean Marianas’
Transocean Marianas questions
Posted in accidents, drilling, offshore, tagged accidents, evacuation, Ghana, list, Transocean Marianas on July 7, 2011| 1 Comment »
- Will Transocean be releasing any details on yesterday’s “water ingress?” Will the results of their internal investigation ever be made public? (We are still waiting for their report on the fatal crane incident last August offshore Nigeria.)
- Will an independent investigation be conducted? Will the authorities in Ghana participate?
- Did the damage that the Marianas incurred during Hurricane Ike (2008) or Tropical Storm Ida (2009) in any way contribute to yesterday’s apparent structural failure?
- When will we have an international system that ensures (a) prompt, independent, and complete investigations of all significant accidents, and (b) the timely release of findings?
BOE News Flash: Transocean Marianas in danger of sinking, 68 evacuated
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged accidents, crack, drilling, evacuation, Nigeria, offshore drilling, safety, sinking, Transocean Marianas on July 6, 2011| 10 Comments »
This information is unconfirmed but the source is highly reputable:
We just received word this morning that the Transocean Marianas rig has developed a large crack in one of the pontoons on the #5/#6 anchor chain locker while they were picking up anchors, and is currently taking on water and listing. The bilge pumps are keeping up (barely), but there’s certainly concern that it might sink on location. So far, 68 people have been evacuated from location.
According to RigZone, the Marianas was working offshore Nigeria. [Per one of our readers, (see comment below) Petrodata shows the rig operating offshore Ghana.]
More: The Marianas, spudded the Macondo in October, 2009, but was damaged by Hurricane Ida and towed to shore. The Deepwater Horizon was the rig that replaced the Marianas.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 