Bully Drill ships

In the first half of 2007, Huisman was awarded a contract by Frontier/Shell to design and manufacture the drilling tower and related pipe, riser and BOP handling equipment for Frontier's first Bully Drillship "Bully 1". The Bully range drill ships are designed to offer a lower cost and more flexible alternative for drilling in ultradeep and Arctic conditions. The order for outfitting a second vessel followed in 2008.

The selection of our in-house designed compact box type drilling tower instead of a conventional derrick allows for a significantly smaller sized vessel compared to other deepwater drill ships of similar capacity. The drilling equipment set is based on the HuisDrill 10000 design and allows offline standbuilding. A total of 950mt (over 48,000 ft) of drill pipe and casing is racked back in 2 carousel type setbacks. Drill pipe and casing are handled in 135ft lengths. The 2.400 kips drill tower is fitted with active heave compensated drawworks mounted inside the tower.

The remote changeable reeving of the drill line allows high block speeds at low fastline speed. Cutting and slipping of the drill line is eliminated altogether by the application of dual drawworks (no deadman anchor). The passive drill string compensation to the active heave compensated drawworks provides inherent safety and redundancy.

Besides the drilling mast, Huisman also delivers all drill pipe handling equipment, casings, marine risers, subsea and surface BOPs and X-mas trees, riser tensioning system and both deck cranes. This includes all power systems and an integrated control system which also controls 3^rd party equipment.

Huisman will supply the drilling mast with active heave compensated draw works inside, all pipe racking and pipe handling gear, riser handling cranes and the riser tensioning system. We will also supply the driller's cabin and we are responsible for all system integration including 3^rd party equipment. Due to the combination of simple robust designs and the incorporation of redundancy at multiple levels, the system will maximize safety for the crew and minimize equipment downtime. The equipment will be installed at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.

Delivery of the first drilling equipment set is planned for end of 2009, the second set is planned for 2010. All equipment is fully assembled and shoptested prior to delivery to the shipyard.