Jumbo delivers Bully I drill tower
A Jumbo Shipping heavy lift vessel arrived at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore last month carrying the drill tower for the first Shell/Frontier Bully drill ship, which was shipped from the Huisman quay in Schiedam.
Huisman, the Dutch based specialist in heavy lifting, pipelay and drilling equipment, designed and manufactured the drilling tower and related pipe, riser and BOP handling equipment. Delivery of the equipment was in line with the delivery schedule of the new build Bully 1 vessel at Keppel Shipyard. The Huisman delivery of similar equipment for Bully 2 is planned in five months time.
All equipment has been manufactured at the Huisman production facility in The Netherlands. The drill tower has been upended on the quay, fully assembled and tested prior to transportation. The topdrive and service loops were also installed. The drill tower will be installed onboard the vessel with a single lift. Subsequent commissioning of the complete system is expected to take less than three months, resulting in improved efficiency and thus reduced installation cost.
Apart from the drilling tower, Huisman also delivered all equipment for the handling of drill pipe, casings, marine risers, subsea and surface BOPs and X-mas trees, the riser tensioning system and both deck cranes. The equipment came with all power systems as well as an integrated control system which also controls third party equipment. This equipment had been been shipped to Keppel Shipyard earlier.
The Bully range drill ships are designed to offer a lower cost and more flexible alternative for drilling in ultra-deep and Arctic conditions. The selection of Huisman’s compact box type drilling tower instead of a conventional derrick allows for a significantly smaller sized vessel compared to other deepwater drill ships of similar capacity. The box type drill tower design also improves safety.
