1.

Drilling ships

Drill ships are commonly known as a ships designed to carry out drilling operations. This
boat is specially designed to carry drilling platforms out to deep-sea locations often under
extreme environmental conditions. These ships when moored can be used for drilling in
depths of up to about 1000 m, while for greater depths dynamic positioning systems must be
used, and with these the ship is capable of operating in 3000 m of water. Drill ships are
differentiated from other offshore drilling units by their easy mobility. Drill ships are able to
propel themselves from well to well and location to location

1.1 How its work

The drill ship is an adaptation for a standard seagoing ship of mono-hull form with the
addition of a substructure with a moonpool and/or cantilevers from which the drilling
operations may be carried out. A typical drillship will have, in addition to all of the
equipment normally found on a large ocean ship, a drilling platform and derrick located on
the middle of its deck. In addition, drillship contain a hole (or 'moonpool'), extending right
through the ship down through the hull, which allow for the drill string to extend through the
boat, down into the water. Drillship is equipped with electric motors on the underside of the
ship hull, capable of propelling the ship in any direction. These motors are integrated into the
ships computer system, which uses satellite positioning technology, in conjunction with
sensors located on the drilling template, to ensure that the ship is directly above the drill site
at all times.

These vessels are also equipped with some additional means of positioning the unit over the
drill center so that the vessel will maintain a close relationship with the bore hole in the
seabed. It is well known that ship type drilling units are very susceptible to wave action and
will tend to move in a direct relationship with the sea state encountered. Since the vessel is
connected to the seabed by a riser and the drill string is in contact with the bottom of the bore
hole, motions of the vessel with respect to the seabed are extremely important to be able to
maintain the drilling posture.
 Figure 1: Schematic diagram of drilling ship

Drilling ships are kept in a vertical position over the well by means of mooring or dynamic
positioning systems. In shallower waters, drillship is moored to the seafloor. Once the water
depth becomes too deep, drillship depend on dynamic positioning systems (DPS) to keep the
vessel in place while drilling. DPS relies on several thrusters located on the fore, aft and mid
sections of the ship, which are activated by an onboard computer that constantly monitors winds
and waves to adjust the thrusters to compensate for these changes. Sometimes, both positioning
systems are used.
 1.2 The mooring system

The traditional positioning system for a vessel foresees the use of mooring lines with cables or chains which run
from the hull and become fixed to the seabed by anchors, arranged according to
schemes depending on the geometry of the vessel and
on the expected sea and weather conditions. In
general, drilling ships have three or four pairs of
mooring lines – at least two lines in the stern, two in
the bows and one on each side – while semisubmersible
rigs have at least one pair on each
column at the apexes of the platform. The mooring
lines are usually made of various parts, an upper part
consisting of a steel cable connected to the vessel,
and a lower part, consisting of a chain fastened to the
anchor. Should just a single anchor not be sufficient
to grip the seabed, two or more anchors in series are
used, connected by another chain. The anchors are
lowered vertically by a tug using a special cable. The
tug tows the anchor to the anchorage, stretching the
mooring line, and when the right position has been
reached, it lowers the anchor to the seabed so that the
flukes become embedded in the bottom. Vertically
above each anchor there is a buoy marking its
position and facilitating its retrieval when operations
are over. In the case of very deep waters (more than
1,000 m), the traditional mooring system requires
long, heavy lines, more powerful tugs and lengthy,
difficult positioning and retrieval operations, which
involve considerably higher costs.
The mooring of vessels is programmed according
to the force exercised by the wind and the stresses
induced by the sea. For example, drilling ships are
normally moored with their bows towards the waves
and the prevalent winds, if possible, or at least towards
the strongest expected force. If the direction of the

1.3 The dynamic positioning system

1.4 Problems why using Drilling ships

The present study is concerned with the numerical and experimental analysis  of a moonpool in rough sea.
From hydrodynamic viewpoint, a moonpool of drill ships can cause various problems. Among them, two
major problems arise such as an increased resistance and overflow on the deck due to pumping up
phenomena. To overcome these inherit problems, we have carried out various numerical  analysis to find
optimum moonpool shapes. The three-dimensional numerical model  adopting SOLA-VOF scheme is used
to predict violent free surface movement inside of a moonpool due to irregular ship motions  with six
degree of freedom. For accurate input data of  ship motions, a three dimensional panel method program is
applied for seakeeping analysis. The resistance and seakeeping model test have  been carried out at
MARINE to validate the proposed moonpool shapes, which have been designed based on numerical
simulation results.

Drill Ship
Design: exploratory; ship hull adapted to accommodate drilling equipment, drilling derrick amidships
with a “moonpool” opening located below the derrick, flexible risers with disconnects; self-
propelled, utilize a dynamic positioning system to maintain ship above the drilling location
(computer controlled thrusters, environmental sensors, position determining equipment). Turret
Mooring System enables ship to head into the wind/waves reducing their effect
Depth: deep… 2500 m or greater

Advantages: (1) mobile with high speed transit (up to 16 kts), (2) deck load and total load greater
than jack-up and semisubmersibles, (3) reduced transoceanic transit times (able to pass through Suez
and Panama Canals), (4) low mobilization cost, (5) low initial & operating cost, (6) superior
seaworthiness and survival capability

Disadvantages: (1) poor stability in rough seas, (2) minimum deck area, (3) low freeboard (4)
difficult to handle mooring systems and land BOP stack & riser in rough seas

While capable of drilling in deep and ultra-deep waters, a disadvantage to using a drillship is
its susceptibility to being agitated by waves, wind and currents. This is especially
troublesome when the vessel is actually drilling, because the drillship is connected to
equipment thousands of feet under the sea.

Drill Ships are Primarily Used as Exploratory Vessels

In order to drill in water deeper than the 120 meter reach of jackups, the platform must float on the water. Drill ships
have the advantage of drill depths up to ten times that of jackups.

The first drill ship, CUSS 1, built in 1961 used four underwater propellers to keep it in place. It was able to stay in
position while drilling a well off the coast of California at a depth of 948 meters.

While CUSS 1 used a complicated system of radar and buoys to stay in place, modern drill ships are equipped
with dynamic positioning systems. Because of the dual advantages of loose tether to any point and their ability to
self-propel, drill ships travel to and from oil fields at a relatively quick pace.
Generally a drill ship will only be used in specific circumstances. They may be utilized in drilling new deep water
wells, maintenance, or finish work. Drill ships are robbed of their mobility advantage if they are maintained over one
well for too long a period. They are the cavalry as the oil business fights its war against the seas.

For oil and gas offshore Exploration and Production (E&P) operations in waters deeper than 300
meters, floating platforms such as Drillships and Semi-Submersible Platforms are used. These
vessels must be kept stationary at a desired location (reference) to accomplish their offshore
E&P tasks. Therefore, the platform must have means of producing forces and momenta to
counterbalance environmental forces (wind, currents and waves) in order to keep it at the
desired location. In the most common case, the platform is equipped with anchor lines. A
mooring system usually has 8 to 12 anchor lines for each platform. However, in water depths
deeper than 1000 meters, a mooring system becomes uneconomic or impracticable.

This problem was overcome with the development of the Dynamic Positioning System (DPS).
The DPS controls platform displacements in the three horizontal degrees of freedom: surge,
sway and yaw. The DPS is composed of a controller, a sensor system, a thruster system, and a
power system. The sensor system feeds to the controller (computer) with information about the
platform positioning and environmental parameters – winds, currents and waves. The controller
commands the action of thrusters, installed on the bottom of the platform hull, that generate the
forces and momenta needed to counteract the environmental forces and thus keep the platform
at the reference. The controller keeps the platform within a tolerance radius of about 2% to 6%
of the water depth, depending on the surface equipment and the operation to be executed.
Furthermore, a DPS can also assist a moored platform as, for example, changing its head to
minimize the environmental loads.

There is always a lag of time between start of exploration drilling and first production in a new
area. This has to do with the time to make commercial finds but also, when it comes to the
increasing water depths, it has to do with the qualification of new deepwater completion and
production technologies. When a field moves into the production phase there is another time lag
before well maintenance and intervention is needed.Some oil companies have made three
categories of operations on this basis and the service industry have answered by proposing
suitable vessels for the three different segments.

Category A: 115 m ships for wireline well intervention and well stimulation.

Category B: 20,000 ton semisubmersibles or 30 to 40,000 ton ships for riser based medium
range operations.

Category C: Fullblown all-capacity 40 to 50,000 ton semisubmersibles, 70 to 100,000 ton ships.

These vessels are purpose designed for drilling, completion and full workover capabilities with a
number of efficiency improvement features. The most advanced are equipped with full dual
operations capability.

West Navigator / West Navion was contracted during the boom of 1997, with a displacement of
100,000 tons and an overall length of 253 meters. As of 2002 there were only four competing
vessels with basically the same features: the Discoverer Enterprise class vessels and the
Saipem 10000. They are all built for maximum efficiency in combining drilling and completion
and for full workover of subsea wells. Smedvig took delivery of the new generation drilling units
West Navion in February, 2000. West Navion was based on a Navion multipurpose shuttle
tanker (MST) already under construction at Samsung, Korea. She is equipped with full capacity
dual Ramrig systems, aligned longitudinally. In the past the drilling and completing of subsea
wells has been done by standarddrilling rigs with all critical path activities being dependant upon
the successive availability of the main work string/rotary/drillfloor. There is a huge potential in
removing activities from the critical path and have parallel activities done, thus reducing overall
time to perform the operations. Many of the rigs contracted during the 1997 building boom are
equipped with some sort of efficiency boost tools. The simplest is an onboard make-and-break
assembly that builds or breaks out bottom hole assemblies, drillpipe stands and casing stands.
The more advanced in this respect is the full capability twin rig systems that are found on less
than ten vessels on a world-wide basis. Dual operations from these vessels are now being
proven in a gradual step-by-step approach. In a single well applicationthe advantage lies in
using the dual system for parallel making and breaking bottomhole assemblies, tool strings and
pipestands and in running casing/BOP in parallel with drilling top hole. In a multiwell subsea
template situation there is an additional potential in performing simultaneous in-water
operations. While the main rig is in a BOP/riser drilling mode, the auxiliary rig can drill tophole
and install surface casings in the next well.
The Discoverer Enterprise of Transocean is the first ultra- deepwater drillship with dual activity
drilling technology, which aims to reduce the cost of an ultra deepwater development project by
up to 40 percent. This massive, multi-purpose vessel can work in the deepest waters being
explored in the world today. It can drill, test and complete wells in water depths of up to 10,000
feet - almost two miles. At 835 feet, the Discoverer Enterprise is almost as long as three U.S.
football fields, and it can drill a well more than 6.5 miles beneath its drill floor. More important,
the Discoverer Enterprise's patented dual-activity drilling technology has the unique capability to
conduct drilling operations simultaneously, rather than sequentially in series. Two full-capability,
full-capacity drilling stations - in actuality two separate drilling rigs -- carry out these parallel
operations under a single, massive derrick. Two full-sized rotary tables are designed into a drill
floor more than twice as large as a conventional one.
Global Marine Inc. is a holding company incorporated in Delaware in 1964. The Company,
which is headquartered in Houston, Texas, provides offshore oil and gas
contract drilling services on a daily-rate ("dayrate") basis and offshore oil and gas
drilling management services on a dayrate or completed-project, fixed-price ("turnkey") basis,
and participates in oil and gas exploration and production activities. The Glomar C. R. Luigs and
Glomar Jack Ryan are two state-of-the-art drillships constructed in Northern Ireland by
constructedby Harland and Wolff. The Glomar C. R. Luigs was delivered in the first quarter of
2000, and delivery of the Glomar Jack Ryan took place in the third quarter of 2000. Those
delayed delivery dates had no effect on the drillships' operating contracts with customers and
only modestly impacted earnings.

The Company's GLOMAR C.R. LUIGS, GLOMAR JACK RYAN, and GLOMAR EXPLORER are
dynamically-positioned, ultra-deepwater drillships capable of drilling in water depths up to 9,000
feet, 8,000 feet, and 7,800 feet, respectively, as currently equipped. With modifications,
maximum water depth capabilities are 12,000 feet for the GLOMAR C.R. LUIGS and GLOMAR
JACK RYAN, and 10,000 feet for the GLOMAR EXPLORER. The GLOMAR ROBERT F.
BAUER is a conventionally-moored drillship capable of drilling in maximum water depths of
2,750 feet.

During the 90’s IHC Gusto developed a new generation drillship, capable of drilling in maximum
10,000 ft water depth.The design was elaborated to a very detailed level including extensive
model testing and approval by DNV.The motion behaviour of this vessel in medium and long
periodical seas compares favourable with that of the standard drilling semi-submersibles in the
industry. IHC Gusto offers the industry the "Gusto 10,000" design using its "Pelican" drillship
experience through to its FPSO technology taking into consideration such important aspects as
operational efficiency and HSE. The Gusto 10,000 is able to operate at much higher payloads
compared with other deep water rigs, resulting into reduced operating costs. The “Gusto
10,000” is designed for dual redundant, DPS –2, and even triple redundant, DPS-3, dynamic
positioning operations (compatible with NMD 2 / NMD 3 notation). In the late 90’s two drilling
vessels, the "Pride Africa" and the "Pride Angola" were constructed and delivered to their Owner
Pride International. Ever since these vessels are in operation in the challenging West Africa
environment they proved to be very successful.

A new development in ultra deep water drilling is the use of a surface BOP with a slimline
pressurized riser. The objective of this method is obtaining cost reduction in drilling operations
by eliminating heavy subsea equipment, which enables the drilling contractor to use a lower day
rate rig for ultradeep water depths. The longstanding experience of IHC Gusto in the design of
drilling vessels has been established with the Pelican Class vessels in the period of 1970 to
1985 and the Gusto10,000 series - Pride Africa, Pride Angola, Glomar C.R. Luigs and Glomar
Jack Ryan - more recently. IHC Gusto Engineering B.V. has developed a DP drill ship design in
which this technology is incorporated. The vessel is able to drill in water depths up to 12,000 ft
using a surface BOP stack and slimline riser, while allowing conventional subsea drilling up to
5,000 ft using a subsea BOP and marine drilling riser.

To overcome these inherit problems, we have carried out various numerical  analysis to
find optimum moonpool shapes. The three-dimensional numerical model adopting SOLA-
VOF scheme is used to predict violent free surface  movement inside of a moonpool due to
irregular ship motions with six degree of freedom. For accurate input data of  ship motions, a
three dimensional panel method program is applied  for seakeeping analysis. The resistance
and seakeeping model test have been carried out at MARINE to validate the proposed
moonpool shapes, which have been designed based on numerical simulation results.

A ship offers high transit speed, high variable load capacity, large storage volumes, and the ability to store produced
fluid. A semisubmersible offers better motion characteristics; equal resistance to wave, wind, and current from any
direction; the ability to support a mooring system; and a large deck are