# Twinkle, twinkle, damaged drillship
Last updated 05:00 11/05/2011
The $180,000-a-day drillship Noble Discoverer looks destined to spend the winter doing nothing more than providing a nightly light show in the waters off New Plymouth. The veteran drillship was so badly damaged in a storm off the Taranaki coast that it will be unable to return to drilling operations any time soon. Instead, it is likely to lie close to shore off New Plymouth while major repairs are carried out to on-board equipment, Shell Todd Oil Services confirmed yesterday. While only minor damage happened to the vessel during the April 26 storm, other equipment such as the mooring system and drilling equipment were damaged when anchor lines snapped. Replacement parts are being flown in from overseas. Shell Todd had chartered the ship at bet ween US$154,000 and US$158,000 (NZ$184,000 to NZ$189,000) a day to drill the Ruru-1 well 40 kilometres off t he Taranaki coast. The company would not say yesterday whether it was continuing to pay the charter day rate. Shell Todd general manager Rob Jager, New Plymouth, said investigations are under way to fully understand why the mooring lines failed and what needs to be done to prevent this in future. "As safety is the first and foremost priority, and with winter substant ially reducing the operating window, the vessel may not return to the Ruru well for some time," he said. "There is therefore an opportunity for the Noble Disco verer contract holder to enable the vessel to be upgraded while it is in port." While the presence of the vessel with its big drilling derrick so close to the New Plymouth shoreline is turning it into an unlikely tourist attraction, for Shell-T odd Oil Services it is a cons tant reminder that things have turned pear-shaped out at Ruru-1. Noble Discoverer arrived in Taranaki waters in Januar y to drill the single exploration well. The project was supposed to take up to two months, with the drillshi p then scheduled to head to Alaska to drill exploration wells within the Arctic Circle. But it's now heading towards mid-May, and Ru ru-1 has yet to reach target depth. Energy industry sources say a series of technica l problems at the site had delayed drilling anyway, and then j ust after Easter the big storm hit, which snapped some of the Noble Discoverer's anchor lines and forced the ship to drop its "riser", the pipe t hat contains the well's drill string. The drillship with 114 people on board still rolled heavily in seven-metre seas, and this is understood to have caused further damage. This was behind the decision to bring the Noble Discoverer close to Port Taranaki for a full assessment of the ship's condition. Noble Discoverer is one of the oldest drillships in the world. Build in 1966 and ori g inall y a bulk carrier called ROB MAETZIG 

## Pa g e 1 of 3 Twinkle, twinkle, dama g ed drillship | Stuff.co.nz

7/20/2011 htt p ://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail y -news/news/4987045/Twi nkle-twinkle-dama g e d -drill

...the Matsuhiro Maru, in 1976 it was converted for t he energy exploration operat ions and renamed Frontier Discoverer. The name was changed again to Noble Discoverer last year when drilling company Frontier Drilling merged with fellow driller Noble Corporation. Last year the vessel was at the centre of major cont roversy when Shell announced plans to use it to drill wells north of Alaska. Critics slammed the potential greenhouse gas emissions it would emit, and this led to the vessel being diverted to New Zealand instead. Yesterday's statement confirmed a plan is being developed to completely recover the riser system from the seabed so there will be no impact to the environment. But the Noble Discoverer will not be used for this recovery work, it added. The statement said that in accordance with best industr y practice, the Ruru well was safely closed-in before the storm hit and is in good condition. - Taranaki Daily News
3 comments Post a comment Expand All Oldest First x #3 08:11 pm May 24 2011 stos make life miserable for the smal l contractors with all their pathetic rules and over the top paper work all in the name of "safety" but it all comes down to m oney - they hire the oldest junk drillship because it was cheap chris frank #2 08:38 pm May 12 2011 Well done STOS the pros, bring in such nonsense rules as workers cant wear slip on boots on you sites, only lace ups etc etc, pretend to be fi rst class... then bring in one of t he oldest drilling ships in the world to do the work... very modern, well done STOS ...questions... Blur #1 10:08 am May 11 2011 Surprise Surprise,, Who in the industry that has wo rked in NZ waters could s ee this coming, odviously everyone except Shell. To bring an old moored ship like that here & expect it to handle our waters was asking a lot. Most of us old rig workers just laughed when we heard it was coming to drill here. Shell Todd say safety is of the utmost importance but hard to be lieve when they keep bringing in old junkers like the Noble Discoverer to our shores. 

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## Pa g e 2 of 3 Twinkle, twinkle, dama g ed drillship | Stuff.co.nz

7/20/2011 htt p ://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail y -news/news/4987045/Twi nkle-twinkle-dama g e d -drill

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## Pa g e 3 of 3 Twinkle, twinkle, dama g ed drillship | Stuff.co.nz

7/20/2011 htt p ://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail y -news/news/4987045/Twi nkle-twinkle-dama g e d -drill

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