NOV and Burgan celebrate rig launch

The vice president of NOV Middle East and chairman of Kuwaiti firm Burgan joined industry dignitaries for an inauguration ceremony in Jebel Ali, Dubai, to mark the completion of the first of five rigs contracted to the Kuwaiti firm. The contract for the five rigs cost Burgan US$138 million, with all five expected to be completed by February 2009.

"This rig is the first of five rigs, a 2000 horse power rig to be called the Burgan 134 which is capable of drilling up to 15,000 feet. It started to be designed as a Middle East rig and we modified it to become specific to Burgan's requirements," said Fadi Michel Matta, vice president of NOV Middle East. Once testing has been completed and the rig has been certified by the Kuwait Oil Company, it will be located in the Raudhatian area in the north of the country.

"We have ambitious plans in Kuwait to start the deep drilling of gas and oil in the north, and also to increase production to about 4 million bpd. This needs a lot of rigs to maintain wells already drilled and also to double up facilities in new areas. Kuwait needs another 30 rigs in the next year in order to meet the plans," said Ahmed Al-Hamad, chairman and managing director of Burgan.

It was also announced by NOV that they were increasing the team out in Jebel Ali, which included moving to a new facility dedicated to rig construction in Jebel Ali. "The new facility will allow us to rig up four rigs at the same time, so by December we will shift all of our work to that specifically built facility just for rig-ups - customers want delivery so we must try to ensure this," said Matta.

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