ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore has installed a 215 mt NOV passive heave compensator on Diamond Offshore’s Ocean BlackLion drillship and upgraded its Ballast Water Treatment System.
The Ocean BlackLion drillship arrived in ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore's deepwater facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi in early May.
"This contract represents the third Diamond Offshore drillship performing similar upgrades at this facility over the last year," the company said.
The shipyard team installed an MPD piping system and a ballast water treatment system. Both systems were 3D laser scanned and engineered in-house aboard Diamond Offshore vessels during previous projects to avoid interference.
Additional shoring of structural support was put in place to accommodate modules.
In addition, ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore performed upgrades to the ballast water treatment system and relocated the firewater system piping, in addition to painting the exterior hull.
ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore also devised a custom solution for a mechanical tie-in for the ballast water treatment system to avoid disrupting the internal coating systems.
The Ocean BlackLion is the third drillship, and fifth working deepwater drilling rig to visit the shipyard under contract to work in the Gulf of Mexico over the last six months.
According to Diamond Offshore's Fleet Status report issued in February, the OceanBlack Lion drillship was expected to start its two-year contract with BP in the Gulf of Mexico in mid-July.
Per AIS data found on VesselsValue, the drillship is currently in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's Mississippi Canyon Block 579, having recently arrived from Pascagoula.
Worth reminding, Diamond Offshore in April filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Despite this, the company at the time said its clients and vendors should expect business as usual.