Singapore’s offshore rig builder Sembcorp Marine has delivered what it says is the world’s largest jack-up rig to Noble Corporation.

Noble Lloyd Noble, the seventh ultra high-specification harsh environment jack-up rig completed for Noble Corporation, is based on the GustoMSC CJ70 design as well as Statoil’s ‘Category J’ specifications.

The rig has an operational air gap of 69 meters and is capable of operating in a water depth of up to 150 meters (492 feet) in harsh environmental conditions. It boasts a maximum total drilling depth capacity of 10,000 meters (approximately 33,000 feet).

The rig will be deployed in Statoil’s Mariner field development in the UK sector of the North Sea under a four-year charter arrangement. Sembcorp says the Noble Lloyd Noble is the first offshore structure of its kind to fully comply with both Norwegian and UK regulatory standards.

Sembcorp Marine President and CEO Wong Weng Sun said: “The Noble Lloyd Noble reaffirms Sembcorp Marine’s ability to continuously scale new peaks as a manufacturer of the world’s most sophisticated rigs. With a global network of facilities, we are able to execute projects of any scale and complexity to high health, safety and environmental standards. We look forward to partnering with Noble Corporation again in building the best and most versatile offshore structures.”

Sembmarine said the Noble Lloyd Noble project achieved 8 million man-hours worked without reportable incidents onboard the rig, adding the project also scored a low Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) of 0.10 per million man-hours worked over a 31-month construction period.

Simply by looking at Sembmarines’ safety statement, one could assume that there were no incidents during the rig’s construction, however, one would be wrong.

Namely, late in February this year the Noble Lloyd Noble sustained damage following the collapse of a shipyard crane boom operating near the rig, damaging one of the rig’s cranes.

The incident also resulted in minor injuries to three of the shipyard’s workers.