Mating Ceremony for the "Frigstad Deepwater Rig Alfa" Drilli

Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Ltd successfully completed the mating of the upper hull & topsides to the lower hull of the Frigstad Deepwater Rig Alfa, which is the first of two ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs which were ordered by Frigstad Deepwater Ltd in December 2012.

The successful operation was marked at a ceremony in Yantai today, in the presence of guests from China and abroad including amongst others government officials, industry leaders and directors, management and workers from rig owner, yard and their subcontractors. At close to 18,000 metric tons, the lifting operation carried out by the “Taisun” crane is one of the heaviest lifts ever undertaken by a conventional crane and it is another demonstration of Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore’s capabilities and its development towards becoming a leading builder of state of the art offshore drilling rigs.

The event is also another important milestone for the Frigstad Group. The rig is of the Frigstad D90tm design, developed by Frigstad Engineering. The first rig of the Frigstad D90tm design was delivered in 2011 and is currently operating offshore West Africa. The rigs under construction for Frigstad Deepwater Ltd are the result of further advancement of the rig design and they will be amongst the largest, most powerful and efficient ultra-deepwater drilling rigs ever built. The construction supervision and marketing as well as subsequent operation of the rigs is being managed by Frigstad Offshore. The rigs are scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017.

“It is a challenging market for offshore drilling rigs these days, and therefore we are particularly pleased to see that CIMC Raffles is taking pride in delivering top quality workmanship. And more than ever, the oil companies are dependent on value-adding solutions to realize their large scale drilling projects. We want to be an enabler for our customers, and with these rigs we believe that we have just the right tool for the job, bringing efficiency and versatility to a whole new level” says Simen Skaare Eriksen, CEO of Frigstad Offshore.