How the dual activity drill floor is expected to operate

The Transocean Offshore Enterprise Class drillships transcend traditional vessel and
operational limitations in ultra-deepwater. Conventional single rotary table operations
change to a structured dynamic overlay of dual activity and man-management. The new
challenges emphasise co-ordinated teamwork and communication between operator and
contractor to optimise the well construction process.

The Enterprise Class dynamically positioned (DP) drillships are dual-activity drilling rigs
designed to drill, test, and complete ultra-deepwater wells to 35,000-ft drilling depth in water
depths up to 10,000 ft. The patent-pending new generation dual-activity design resulted from
work performed by Transocean to develop a cost-effective solution for world-wide ultra-
deepwater drilling operations. The Enterprise Class drillships are designed to provide the
industry with the capability to achieve the levels of efficiency and safety required for the
economic development of ultra-deepwater reserves.

The drillships combine a dual-

activity drilling equipment package
consisting of advanced, high-
capacity drilling equipment with a
modified double-hulled shuttle
tanker design. The result of this
combination is a large multipurpose
drilling rig designed to reduce well
construction time, provide extended
well testing and storage capabilities,
and allow a range of subsea
operations, including the J-Laying of
ultra-deepwater pipelines.

The Enterprise Class drillships are DNV Class 1A1 MODU's designed to operate in harsh
environments world-wide. They are designed to heave less than 7 ft in a 50-year Gulf of
Mexico winter storm. The variable deck load and storage capabilities should provide the
ability to drill multiple wells before re-supply of well consumables is required.
Dual activity
Dual-activity capability should reduce well construction time by enabling operations to be
conducted simultaneously in parallel, rather than sequentially in series as has traditionally
been required due to equipment
limitations. By-products of the dual-
activity concept include an increase in
well construction quality, reduction of
non productive time due to advanced
inspection and pre-testing capabilities,
flexibility to perform a wide range of
subsea jobs, and redundancy of
technically advanced high-capacity
drilling equipment.

Simultaneous operations will necessitate

a high level of job-specific planning to
ensure the maximum reduction in critical
path time is achieved. The scheduling of
equipment and personnel coupled with
real-time management of dual-activity
operations will be essential to success.

Rig floor equipment on the Enterprise Class drillships is designed to minimise traditional
roughneck "hands-on" work by utilising a series of semi-automated pipe-handling equipment
operated from remote touch screen and discrete controls. Pipe-handling equipment is
capable of handling up to 20-in. OD tubular’s in Range II fourbles (a four-stand) or Range III
triples.

Dual-activity capability is provided by a forward work area and an aft work area, each
centred around a rotary table. The rotary tables are spaced 40 ft apart above an 80-ft by 30-
ft moonpool and are serviced by independent drilling equipment packages utilising a dual 2
by 2,000,000-lb derrick.

The forward work area is equipped with tensioners and will be utilised as the primary rotary
for drilling with riser and the BOP stack. The aft work area will be utilised for riserless drilling
operations and will serve as a staging ground for preparation and testing of equipment to be
utilized in the forward work area. Non-drilling subsea operations will also be performed from
the aft work area.

The aft work area includes a 95-ft powered mousehole and a pick-up/lay-down system, and
is designed to make up or lay down stands of drillstring or casing in singles. The pick-up/lay-
down system picks a horizontal single off the conveyor and presents the single to the
mousehole or the rotary in the vertical to be made up by an iron roughneck. The reverse
process is utilised to lay down singles. The aft work area can be upgraded to serve as a
second primary rotary for drilling with riser and a BOP stack concurrent with the forward
work area.
Each pipe racking system can access drill string or casing stands from any position in the
fingerboards and deliver the stand to either of the rotaries or the mousehole. Travelling
assembly dolly retract capabilities will decrease tripping and connection times by allowing
simultaneous operations with pipe-handling equipment at the rotary. Tripping can be
conducted with elevators on the travelling block with the top drive assembly parked.

An adjustable casing fingerboard, a casing iron roughneck, and a hydraulic cathead are
shared between work areas. Total pipe setback capacity shared between work areas is over
80,000 ft.
Drilling equipment
The drilling equipment to be used for dual activity drilling includes the following:

• Two rotary support tables - 601/2-in., 1,000-ton hydraulic rotary tables and hydraulic
power slips up to 750 tons.
• Two crown mounted compensators - 500 tons passive dynamic capacity each with
25-ft stroke, 1,000 tons retracted capacity.
• Two crown block/travelling block/rotating hooks - 1,000-ton powered rotating hook
includes load pins to measure hookload.
• Two top drives - 1,150 HP 650-ton AC top drives with parking system.
• Two link/elevator sets - 500-ton links and hydraulic insert type elevators on both top
drive and travelling block.
• Two drawworks - 5,000 HP DC with 2-in. drill line and regenerative braking rated for
1,000 tons with 12 lines.
• Two pipe racking system - vertical travelling column assembly with two hoisting jaws
capable of handling Range II fourbles or Range II triples up to 30,000 lb.
• Two fixed fingerboard assemblies - capable of holding 30,375 ft of Range III triples of
6 5/8-in drill pipe, 1,240 ft of Range II fourbles of 6 5/8-in. heavy weight drill pipe, and
2,852 ft of Range II fourbles of 6 3/4-in., 8 1/4-in., and 9 1/2-in. drill collars.
• Two drillstring iron roughnecks - capable of handling up to 93/4-in drill collars with
100,000 ft-lb make-up torque and 120,000 ft-lb break-out torque, hydraulic spinning
and torque wrench designed to handle stabilisers.
• Two manipulator arms - hydraulic work basket equipped with a maximum capacity of
14,000 lb at 8 ft and 1,500 lb at 48 ft.
• Four winches - hydraulic with 3/4-in. wire rope regulated for 12,000-lb line pull.
• Two driller work stations - four touch-screen displays controlling drilling and
monitoring equipment in conjunction with joysticks through a computer network,
located in climate-controlled cabins.
• Two assistant driller work stations - two touch-screen displays controlling drilling and
monitoring equipment in conjunction with joysticks through a computer network,
located in climate-controlled cabin.
• Two rig floor control panel - allows control of selected drilling equipment from rig floor.
Typical operations
A hazardous operations process is utilised to evaluate safety considerations for
simultaneous dual-activity operations. It is anticipated that many new dual-activity
capabilities will be identified as work experience with the Enterprise Class drillships and
subsea operations grow and new technology is introduced.

Upon arrival on location, the aft work

area will be utilised to jet structural
pipe in, drill conductor hole, and run
and cement conductor casing and
the wellhead while running the BOP
stack in the forward work area. The
drillships will be capable of saving
several days of rig time by making
short well mobilizations at one to
two knots with the riser and BOP
stack suspended.

While conducting normal drilling operations through the riser in the forward work area,
operations that can be conducted out of the critical path in the aft work area include:

• Inspect, make up, and rack back drill pipe and BHA's
• Function test motors and MWD equipment
• Make up, test, and rack back casing, hangers, running tools, and cementing
equipment
• Make up, test, and hang-off or rack back electric line logging equipment
• Make up, test, and rack back DST equipment
• Make up, test, and rack back completion equipment
• Make up, test, and run subsea trees to the mudline
• Jet template structural pipe
• Batch drill and set template conductor casing and wellhead
• Install subsea equipment (pilings, manifolds, jumpers, and flowlines)
Deck handling systems
Four 60 metric tons (rated) knuckleboom cranes with rigid lifting attachments are utilised to
lift tubular’s and riser from deck storage areas to conveyors located forward and aft of the
derrick. The rigid assembly includes rotating and telescoping capabilities allowing precise
positioning in all weather conditions. The rigid lifting attachments are controlled remotely
from the knuckleboom crane control cabin and consist of a gripper and an electromagnet
mounted on yokes for handling tubular’s and a yoke with flange grippers for handling riser.

The knuckleboom assembly can be removed to allow for increased loads to 75 metric tons.
The conveyors are capable of transporting tubular’s up to 36-in. OD and 20,000 lb to the rig
floor. Riser-handling carts driven by the conveyor belt are utilised to accommodate heavy
riser loads by transmitting the load to the conveyor frame. The aft conveyor includes a
tubular loader and unloader that is capable of loading and unloading singles from a feeder
table.

There are four 7,500-psi mud pumps with 14-in. strokes and room for additional two mud
pumps. The active mud system consists of twelve 500-bbl pits and the reserve mud system
consists of six 1,500-bbl pits. There are four 100-bbl slugging pits, three 100-bbl trip tanks,
and one 10-bbl mini -trip/stripping tank. Solids-control equipment consists of eight cascading
shale shakers and two desander/desilter sets. There are four degassers capable of handling
1,000 gpm each.
The mud system provides the flexibility and capacity to store and quickly utilise multiple mud
and completion fluid systems while retaining sufficient capacity to displace the riser if
required (10,000-ft riser capacity - 3,650 bbl). Significant improvements in drilling rate of
penetration should be achieved by utilising the improved hydraulics at the bit that can be
attained with 7,500 psi mud pumps. A 65/8-in. drillstring tapered to 5 in. when required will
be utilised on the Discoverer Enterprise to maximise hydraulic capabilities.

The bulk system consists of four 4,000 cu ft tanks for gel and barite and four 4,000 cu ft
tanks for cement. The cement unit includes triplex pumps rated to 15,000 psi and 7,500 psi
driven by DC electric motors.
BOP, riser systems
The 15,000 psi 183/4-in. multiplex BOP stack on the Discoverer Enterprise consists of six
rams and a combination annular/lower flex joint. Three of the rams are 41/2-in. to 7-in.
variable bore rams with 151/2-in. operators, two of the rams are blind/shear rams with 22-in.
operators, and one ram is a casing shear ram with 22-in. operators capable of shearing 13
3/8-in. casing. The annular is rated for 10,000 psi.

Temperature and pressure probes and a gas bleed valve under the annular are
incorporated in the BOP stack. The stack is 45 ft in height and is capable of being handled in
one piece below the substructure on the moonpool deck with the use of a powered cart
system with tracks on the moonpool deck and on powered spider beams. A dedicated
combination low-pressure/high-volume and high-pressure/low- volume BOP test pump
system rated to 15,000 psi will reduce pressure testing times.

Riser joints are 75 ft long with a 21-in. OD and 13/16-in. wall thickness. Riser couplings are
rated for 2.5 million lb and the riser is equipped with 41/2-in. ID 15,000 psi choke and kill
lines, a 3.82-in. ID 6,000 psi boost line, and a 2.62-in. ID 5,000 psi hydraulic supply line. The
Discoverer Enterprise has storage capability for up to 20,000 ft. of 21-in. riser.

Six 400-ton solid body tensioners with 50-ft. strokes provide a tensioning capability of 4.8
million lb. A riser tensioner ring with a fluid assist bearing is utilised providing low breakout
torque. Split construction with hydraulic locking pins significantly reduces make-up time.
Three flex joints are utilised in the riser string - an upper flex joint at the diverter, an
intermediate flex joint below the slip joint, and the lower flex joint combined with the annular.
The slip joint has an 85-ft stroke and a profile machined in the inner diameter of the outer
barrel to allow engagement with a BOP landing assist tool.

The BOP landing assist tool will enable the latching and unlatching of the BOP stack utilizing
the drawworks and compensator in combination with the tensioners. This landing
combination eliminates the time associated with nippling down the diverter and rigging up a
landing joint. A BOP test plug can be run below the BOP landing assist tool out of the critical
path to allow testing of the BOP stack immediately after latching up.
The tensioning capability of the Enterprise Class drillships and room underneath the
substructure will allow installation of a high-pressure concentric riser in the 21-in. marine
riser with a surface.
Subsea equipment handling
Clearance of 60 ft between the moonpool deck and the substructure allows handling of
subsea trees and other large subsea equipment in single pieces utilizing the powered cart
system. Components will be loaded directly on carts from supply boats and fully tested in the
moonpool deck area before the component is run to the seafloor out of the critical path. The
Discoverer Enterprise is equipped with two 150 HP ROV units that can be launched
selectively outboard of the drillship or through the moonpool utilizing the moonpool deck
track system for transport.

A production test train on the Discoverer Enterprise capable of testing 20,000 b/d of oil and
100 MMcf/d of gas and produced fluids storage capacity of 138,000 bbl will provide
extended well testing capabilities to determine well and reservoir characteristics. An onboard
permeable membrane, nitrogen-generating system is utilized to produce an inert pad for
produced fluid storage. The nitrogen will also be used for selected control functions and for
powering the crown mounted compensators and riser tensioners.

A triple redundant dynamic positioning system will be utilized to control the six 7,000 HP fully
azimuthing thrusters to keep the Enterprise Class drillships on location. The primary
positioning reference systems are a differential global positioning system and a long/ultra-
short baseline acoustic positioning system. Additional equipment tied into the dynamic
positioning system that provide referencing data include gyro compasses, wind sensors,
vessel motion sensors, vessel draft sensors, flex joint angle indicators, and a doppler current
meter. The dynamic positioning system is part of an integrated automation system that
includes a power management system and a vessel management system.