North Sea-compliant jack-up delivered
Built to the proprietary KFELS N-Class design, this new-generation rig is the largest jack-up to be constructed in Singapore. This rig design is the brainchild of Keppel's R&D arm, Offshore Technology Development (OTD), following Keppel's extensive experience in constructing rigs for the North Sea region since 1985. The North Sea region is one of the world's toughest operating environments for offshore exploration and production.
"Rowan Viking" can operate in harsh weather conditions in water depths up to appr. 152 m and drilling depths of 10,600 m. The design is in full compliance with the demanding and technical challenging requirements of rigs operating in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The KFELS N-Class design also provides customers the flexibility of having a jack-up that can undertake drilling and production concurrently. As per Keppel, the high-specification rig has features allowing drilling to take place at two positions 10 m apart. This special design allows the jack-up to accept process modules for production activities while having concurrent drilling activities at the secondary cantilever position. The two cantilever drilling positions also provide an exceptionally wide drilling envelope.
Construction of the remaining two KFELS N-Class rigs, the "Rowan Stavanger" and the "Rowan Norway", are on schedule with expected deliveries in 1Q and 2Q of 2011, respectively.
