Neptune Marine Oil & Gas Ltd. decided in 2006 to reactivate and extensive upgrade their drill ship 'Neptune Explorer' after a period of being laid-up. The vessel belongs to the 'Pelican' class of drill ships, built by Gusto of Schiedam, The Netherlands.
The 'Neptune Explorer' was built in 1973 as 'Havdrill' and was operational as 'Canmar Explorer III' and 'Northern Explorer III'. The drill ship upgrading is at hand of Sembawang Shipyard Pte. Ltd., Singapore and is planned to be completed by April 2007.
The upgrading comprised of:
- widening of the vessel from 23.78 m to 29.75 m by addition of new sponsoons
- about 1 700 tons of steel renewal
- installation of new drilling derrick and equipment\
- new solids removal plant
- overhaul and modifications of marine systems
- rebuilding of accommodation spaces
- new riser storage racks
- new riser gantry cranes
- new piping handling crane
Principal dimensions |
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Length overall |
149.25 m |
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Length between perpendiculars |
136.80 m |
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Breadth moulded |
29.75 m |
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Depth moulded |
12.50 m |
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Design draught |
7.50 m |
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Drilling capacity |
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Drilling depth |
25 000 feet |
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Water depth after upgrading |
5000 feet |
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Machinery |
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Power plant |
5x SACM/AGOV -16 ESHR diesels, each |
2500 kW |
Auxiliary plant |
1x SACM M60 V12 diesel engine. |
700 kW |
Emergency plant |
1x Scania diesel generator set |
120 kW |
Propulsion system |
2x Lips fixed pitch propellers, each driven |
4412 kW |
Bow thrusters |
3 x Lips tunnel thrusters, each |
1287 kW |
Stern thrusters |
2 x Lips tunnel thrusters, each |
1287 KW |