Dockwise Transports Two New Statoil Rigs

Dockwise, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) was awarded several contracts in January 2014 with a combined value of approximately USD 65 million. The largest contract award was from Statoil Petroleum AS for the transportation of two very large new jack-up drilling rigs. The two Cat-J rigs will be the largest and heaviest jack-up rigs ever to be transported on a heavy marine transport vessel. 

The two rigs are on order with a South Korean yard and are scheduled to be transported to Norway between the second half 2016 and the second half 2017. Dockwise will deploy two of its largest Heavy Marine Transport vessels: the Blue Marlin and her sister vessel the new White Marlin, which will be put into service later this year. 

Statoil's decision to award the contract was based on several criteria. One of them was indeed the ability of Dockwise to provide two large identical Heavy Marine Transport vessels within the same timeframe.

Statoil will deploy the new Cat-J rigs to contribute in production drilling on Gullfaks and Oseberg. The new rigs will be able to operate at water depths from 70 to 150 meters and drill wells down to 10,000 meters. The Cat-J rigs are tailor-made for operations in harsh environment for both surface- and subsea wells.

Boskalis' strategy is aimed at benefiting from key macro-economic factors which drive worldwide demand in our markets: expansion of the global economy, increase in energy consumption, global population growth and the challenges that go hand in hand with climate change. This contract award is closely related to the increase in energy consumption.