Greek shipowners entering into new business opportunities

Athens: The first drillships to be classed to DNV and ordered by a Greek shipowner are now to be built. Metrostar Management Corp has ordered these two ships – both to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korea.

2008-06-03

This is the second Greek shipowner to order a drillship, and the first to sign up to DNV class. The first vessel will be delivered by the Korean yard at May 2011, followed by the second one at November same year. These vessels are the first in an intended series of drillships from the yard.

The offshore sector is booming – a boom that has lasted for some years now. The oil price is high. Oil majors are currently experiencing sustained growth on the strength of high global demand for the exploration of new fields and development of existing ones.

In addition to drillships, a huge number of specialised vessels are ordered for to support the whole chain, from seismic-data collection vessels used prior to the exploration phase to heavy lift vessels that help in the decommissioning of old platforms that are no longer producing oil or gas.

DNV’s knowledge of and expertise in these segments have ensured that the company has a very high market share here. More than 50 per cent of all contracts for these offshore-related vessels that were signed for in 2007 were to DNV class. The complete orderbook as of spring 2008 shows that almost 40 per cent of all new vessels are to DNV class.

The two new ultra-deepwater drillships ordered by Metrostar Management Corp are built to high specs and prepared for challenging operations. Their overall lengths are almost 230 metres and their breadth is 36 metres.

The units will be capable of drilling in water depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,500 metres) and are upgradeable to 12,000 feet (4,000 metres). In addition, they will feature advanced dynamic positioning capabilities, triple activity load paths, dual liquid-storage systems, larger quarters and an efficient deck design that provides significantly more space than previous-generation drillships.

DNV