The rig, a joint venture undertaking with Drill One Capital, will be designed for a maximum water depth of 175m with a 25m air gap and will also cater to harsh environments including the Norwegian North Sea.
"From inception, the UAE government strategy - and Dubai in particular - are focused on putting our industry at the forefront and whatever we do to be in the lead and globally number 1," DDW chairman Khamis Juma Buamim said yesterday.
"It is a demonstration of DDW capability to build world-first megaprojects as we demonstrated in previous projects such as ‘The Shell Prelude floating LNG turret, Solan storage tank and DolWin beta' and now building this global first and largest rig."
Also considered a green rig, it is designed to use up to 30% less fuel consumption through fuel efficient technology, will generate fresh water using waste heat from engine cooling, heat hot water using exhaust waste heat and is expected to have up to 25% less carbon emissions than similar big rigs.
The rig unit takes up 5500 square metres with its 101m by 101m dimensions, the length of the legs will be 232m, while it will also be able to operate at a minimum operational water depth of 20m.
"It is designed to accommodate a total of 160 persons preparing the unit to be used as a drilling and production unit," DDW said.
"The rig will be equipped with the latest available state-of-the-art drilling equipment to be able to drill to 40,000 feet drilling depth."
