West Elara: Singapores Largest Jack-Up Newbuild

West Elara – the first of two ultra-large, high-specification, harsh-environment Gusto MSC CJ70 150A jack-up rigs built by Sembcorp Marine’s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard for North Atlantic Drilling, a subsidiary of Seadrill Limited – is poised to make rigbuilding history in Singapore as the nation’s largest jack-up newbuild following its turnkey construction success.
Classed among the biggest and most advanced jack-ups in the world, West Elara is built to meet stringent the Norwegian NORSOK standard for operations in the North Sea. The rig has secured a five-year contract from leading energy company Statoil for deployment to the Norwegian Continental Shelf, an area which requires strict compliance to high standards of health, safety and environment.

On completion, West Elara will be the largest and highest capability jack-up to join Seadrill’s new and modern rig fleet. The rig will be the sixth drilling unit constructed by Jurong Shipyard in Seadrill’s fleet, following three Friede & Goldman (F&G) ultra-deepwater semi-submersibles [West Sirius and West Taurus delivered in 2008 as well as West Orion delivered in 2010), a Moss Maritime CS50 MK II semi-submersible (West Pegasus delivered in April 2011), and West Cressida (ex-PetroJack IV), a Pacific Class 375 jack-up rig acquired by Seadrill in 2010.

Representing a major milestone for Jurong Shipyard, West Elara is the yard’s first harsh-environment high-specification jack-up newbuild and the largest of its kind to be constructed by the yard. The Gusto MSC CJ70 150A design rig has the ability to drill to depths of 10,670 metres in water depths of up to 150 metres, with a higher variable deck load and a higher operating efficiency compared to previous jack-up generations. The rig’s ultra-large size also allows for additional opportunities within areas like logistics, well testing and early production.

The turnkey construction success of West Elara was commemorated during a rig naming ceremony at Jurong Shipyard on June 25, 2011, presided by Lady Sponsor Ms Grethe Stange, in the presence of key representatives from Seadrill and its subsidiary North Atlantic Drilling, rig charterer Statoil and Jurong Shipyard.

Mr Wong Weng Sun, President and CEO of Sembcorp Marine and Managing Director of Jurong Shipyard, said: “We are pleased to support Seadrill in their fleet expansion to be one of the largest operators of modern, high-quality, premium drilling rigs. West Elara will be the first of two Gusto MSC CJ70 harsh-environment jack-ups that Jurong Shipyard is building for Seadrill and for operations in the Norwegian Continental Shelf, a quality stringent area requiring high standards of compliance. We have built a solid partnership with Seadrill over the years and we look forward to forging many more shared successes in the future.”

In addition to West Elara, five other Seadrill rig units are in various stages of engineering, planning and construction in Jurong Shipyard. These include one F&G ultra-deepwater semi-submersible (West Capricorn), one Moss Maritime CS50 MK II semi-submersible (West Leo), two units of F&G JU2000E jack-ups (West Tucana and West Castor) and another harsh-environment Gusto MSC CJ70 jack-up (West Linus).