Lamprell, a leading provider of diversified engineering and contracting services to the onshore and offshore energy industry, has constructed and delivered a jackup drilling rig, the Butinah, to Abu Dhabi’s National Drilling Company (NDC).

The contract was completed safely and on budget, a Lamprell press release stated.  Days earlier, NDC exercised one of its existing options and awarded a further contract to Lamprell to build a ninth rig in the series.

The Butinah rig departed Lamprell’s Hamriyah facility on May 1 and sailed to its drilling location in the Zakum Field off Abu Dhabi.

The contract for the NDC Butinah rig was signed in April 2012 and this is the sixth in a series of nine rigs being built and delivered by Lamprell to NDC. All nine rigs have been or will be designed according to the Cameron LeTourneau Super 116E (Enhanced) Class design. The Butinah now joins its sister rigs, the Makasib, the Muhaiyimat, the Qarnin, the Marawwah and most recently the Shuwehat which was delivered in December. All of the rigs are on charter to the Adnoc group of companies. 

With the delivery of the Butinah, Lamprell has now delivered a total of 27 newbuild jackup units, and its 14th Super 116E jackup drilling unit, to various clients during the last nine years.

NDC also has further options for Lamprell to build up to an additional two jackup rigs, which have been extended to Q3 2015. 

NDC CEO Abdalla Saeed Al Suwaidi commented: “NDC has launched this strategic Offshore Rigs Acquisition Project to maintain the highest levels of reliability and availability in order to meet clients’ present and future requirements. Our partnership with Lamprell to build offshore jackup rigs in the UAE has made us the first and only Middle Eastern country capable of building such critical engineering, high-tech oil and gas rigs.”

Al Suwaidy thanked Adnoc’s higher management and the NDC board of directors for their guidance and continuous support and ADMA-OPCO for their cooperation and trust, and Lamprell for its efforts.

Jim Moffat, CEO, Lamprell, said the sixth jack-up rig to NDC was completed and delivered to industry leading standards of safety and quality with over four million manhours worked without a day away from work. “This is the third major delivery of its kind for Lamprell in 2015 and is testament to our excellent capabilities in project execution for major projects, confirming our key role in the global energy industry,” he remarked. 

“This successful project delivery would not have taken place without close teamwork and the strong relationship between the Lamprell and NDC project and management teams. We look forward to working with NDC on the ongoing projects which are proceeding as planned.”