XLE 2, image: Maersk Drilling
Maersk Drilling took delivery today of their second XL Enhanced harsh environment jack-up rig from Keppel FELS shipyard in Singapore.
This rig and its sister rig Maersk Intrepid, are the world’s largest jack-up drilling rigs with leg lengths of 206.8 m (678 ft) that allow it to operate in harsh environments and water depths of up to 150m (492 feet). An additional rig of this design is still under construction at Keppel and another at DSME as part of a USD $2.6 billion investment by Maersk. The final two will be delivered in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The XLE-2, which has yet to be named, will work at the Norwegian North Sea’s Ivar Aasen field for Det norske oljeselskap ASA under a 5-year, USD $700 million contract that includes a 2-year extension option.
This rig is unique from other jack-ups in that it has dual pipe handling capability to allow parallel drilling/tripping operations in concert with stand-building.
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