The HD12000 ship can drill to depths of 12,000 feet
A cutting edge drillship that meets market demand and owners’ higher expectations after the Deepwater Horizon incident has been designed by a joint development project (JDP) between Hyundai Heavy Industries and LR.
The HD12000 can drill to depths of 12,000 feet and has greater strength, space and versatility than its drillship predecessors. The 223 metre long vessel is designed to meet the greater complexity, pressures and sizes of today’s drilling equipment and their handling needs. It can also probe depths of 40,000 feet below the rotary table.
The vessel has a high transit speed of 11.5 knots together with reduced form resistance with integrated thruster pod to hull. It has 40% lower fuel consumption, reportedly, than existing drillships and enhanced sea-keeping performance with roll angle reduced by 20%.
HHI-owned druillship at the company’s Ulsan shipyard in South Korea (photo credit : LR)
You can read more aboutthis in theJanuary 2013 issue ofHorizons.
Source: Lloyd’s Register