Newbuild News Page 2

DeepwaterChampionSteelcutting

Deepwater Champion Strikes Steel
As the construction process ended for three of Transocean’s newbuild drillships in February, another was just getting started! Project teams on January 30 cut first steel on the newbuild drillship Deepwater Champion at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. “Steel cutting” is the beginning of the ship construction where the first pieces of steel plate are cut. Steel cutting is followed by several months of block construction (a block is a large piece of the ship) and outfitting (putting all the equipment, piping, cabling, stairs, lights, etc., that go in a block). Next up: Keel laying, which is expected this summer. The rig is scheduled for delivery in 2010.

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Discoverer Luanda Keel Laying Ceremony in Okpo
The Discoverer Luanda is a few steps ahead of Deepwater Champion in the construction process, as project teams at DSME in Okpo, South Korea, held a keel-laying ceremony for the rig on January 12. After striking steel, “keel laying,” which is the act of placing the first hull blocks into the drydock (building dock) to start putting together the main ship hull, is the next major drillship-building milestone. The keel is the very bottom of the ship hull. Keel laying is the act of placing the first hull blocks into the drydock (building dock) and starting to weld them together to make the main ship hull. At this time, the main ship blocks are normally finished and have been placed beside the drydock so they can be easily set inside the drydock.

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