Historic Glomar Explorer Enters Final Stage of Three-Phase Conversion Into A Deep-Water Drillship; Atlantic Marine Inc. Awarded Contract To Turn Navy Ship Into Deep-Water Drillship.HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 1997--Global Marine Inc.'s (NYSE-GLM), Glomar Explorer will undergo the third and final phase of its $180 million conversion into a deep-water drillship at Atlantic Marine Inc. shipyard in Mobile, Ala., the Houston-based offshore drilling Offshore drilling typically refers to the act of extracting resources, primarily oil, in an ocean or lake. Controversy As with all oil drilling, there has been a certain level of controversy surrounding the issue. contractor announced today. Jeff Shepard, Global Marine's construction manager for the Glomar Explorer conversion project, said, "We awarded the contract to Atlantic Marine because of their unique shipyard features such as a 275-ton bridge crane and previous experience with the conversion of dynamically-positioned vessels required to carry out this conversion." John G. Ryan, president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Global Marine, said, "The industry is experiencing a severe shortage of rigs capable of drilling in water depths greater than 2,500 feet. With a history of being ahead of its time, the Glomar Explorer will be one of only four drillships capable of drilling in water depths up to 7,500 feet. Minor modifications will increase the drillship's drilling depth to 10,000 feet -- 2,000 feet beyond any existing rig. The Glomar Explorer is a clear example of Global Marine's commitment to being an industry engineering leader." Atlantic Marine is charged with converting the 619-foot long, 116-foot wide Glomar Explorer into a drillship with the addition of a rig floor substructure substructure /sub·struc·ture/ (-struk-chur) the underlying or supporting portion of an organ or appliance; that portion of an implant denture embedded in the tissues of the jaw. sub·struc·ture n. , derrick, riser tensioning/handling system, motion compensator A motion compensator is a device that decreases the undesirable effects of the relative motion between two connected objects. Motion compensators are usually placed between a floating object and a more stationary object, such as a vessel or a structure fixed to the seabed. , drillpipe racker, two pedestal cranes, four thrusters, additional BOP (blowout prevention) system, drilling mud Noun 1. drilling mud - a mixture of clays and chemicals and water; pumped down the drill pipe to lubricate and cool the drilling bit and to flush out the cuttings and to strengthen the sides of the hole drilling fluid system and a vessel management system incorporating the latest technology in dynamic positioning Dynamic positioning (DP) is a system to automatically maintain a ship’s position and heading by using her own propellers and thrusters. This allows operations at sea where mooring or anchoring is not feasible due to deep water, congestion on the sea bottom (pipelines, . Global Marine expects a total of 200,000 shipyard man hours to be clocked for the entire conversion. Designed and built by Global Marine for the U.S. Navy in 1970, the Glomar Explorer was a part of the Naval fleet A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land. Fleets for 26 years. In August 1996, Global Marine entered into a 30-year lease with the U.S. Navy to convert the Glomar Explorer into a deep-water drillship. The lease enables Global Marine to fulfill a five-year, $260 million commitment from Texaco and Chevron to drill in water depths up to 7,500 feet. In November 1996, Global Marine moved the dynamically-positioned ship from Suisan Bay, Calif., to Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden to begin the first phase of its conversion into a deep-water drillship. The Glomar Explorer departed July 1 for Mobile, Ala., from Cascade General dry-dock in Portland, Ore., marking the completion of phase two of the three-phase conversion. The vessel is scheduled to arrive at Atlantic Marine shipyard in early September, with the conversion's completion projected for the first quarter of 1998. Global Marine, one of the largest worldwide offshore drilling contractors, pioneered drilling from dynamically-positioned vessels. Their fleet consists of 29 mobile rigs plus two undergoing conversion. The company is also the oil and gas industry's largest provider of turnkey drilling services. CONTACT: Stephanie Price, 713/869-0707 or Karen Phillips
Karen Anne Phillips (born May 4, 1966), known after marriage as Karen Anne Higgison , 713/869-0707 or Dave Herasimchuk, 281/596-5809 |
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