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Two months ago we brought you photos of the world’s largest crane being built, today we show you it’s first lift. Yantai Raffles Shipyard Limited tells us:

Today our shipyard celebrated the much anticipated First Commercial Lift by Taisun amidst a blaze of fireworks and the expectant gaze of the 750 strong local as well as international guests who were all gathered at the Yantai Raffles Shipyard in Shandong, China, to witness this momentous event. Taisun, a crane with an unparalleled 20,000 MT capacity, lifted the massive 14,000 MT Deckbox of COSL Drilling Europe AS’ (“COSL”) Semi-submersible Drilling Rig, the ‘COSLPioneer’, and mated it onto the Columns and Hull of the Rig in one single operation, demonstrating an unprecedented feat within the industry.

gCaptain received the above photo via our gCaptain Tip Line. Here is the official news on the incident from PEMEX;

MEXICO:  PEMEX confirmed that a fire occurred on the Kab 101 platform on Nov. 13.  The fire was caused by a spark generated during repair work to control the natural gas leak that began on Oct. 23.  No one was injured.  The fire later was extinguished in the Kab 121 well.

Meanwhile, work continues to clean the oil spilled during the original incident on Oct. 23.  An overflight revealed that the oil has traveled about 125 kilometers (78 miles).  Another overflight will take place next week to monitor the progress of the clean-up. Click to continue…

Our tipster also suggested that fatalities occurred despite PEMEX’s denial of any injuries. We have not confirmed any of the above comments and have already made one mistake related to this incident so if you have information or links this please write a comment below.

Cargo Law brings us photos of the deadliest Gulf of Mexico offshore accident in the last 43 years; last week’s Collision of the Usumacinta MODU and the Kab 101 Light-Production rig. Bloomberg News tells us;

The collision of a Petroleos Mexicanos oil rig and a floating platform in a storm this week was the deadliest offshore accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 43 years, killing at least 19 workers and leaving four missing. The death toll is the second-worst in the Gulf, where Mexico produces most of its oil and the U.S. receives about 27 percent of its output. In 1964, an explosion on a C.P. Baker drilling barge killed 22, said Simon Marquis, a U.K.-based offshore rig researcher.

Continue reading the article by clicking HERE then head over to CargoLaw.com to see the Photos HERE.

Ok… looks like we fowled up this post (thanks CargoLaw ;).

The error was caught by Simon who runs the excellent and previously featured website Oil Rig Disasters.  Head over there for all our rig photo needs and we will try to stay with what we know (drillSHIPS) next time.

Maybe it’s just because we have fans aboard the DD2 but more likely just because this is an amazing model. It shows the Global SantaFe’s (soon to be Transocean?) Development Driller 1 full equipped for offshore oil exploration and oil field development. To see more photos of the model Click Here.