Abstract
Since 1999 the two drillships Pride Africa and Pride Angola have been operating in Angolan offshore waters. From their initial startup both vessels have been deployed in a deepwater field development role and operated under long term contracts.
This paper describes the operational experience since the start up of both vessels within their field development role; the successes and the shortcomings resulting in lessons learned which formed the base of a project plan to further enhance the operability of the vessels.
Late in 2004 and early in 2005 both vessels were docked in Cape Town for the 5 yearly special survey and maintenance upgrades. Works were executed which reflected additional requirements requested by the operator as well as upgrades planned by the drilling contractor.
The paper will address the following key elements in operating and upgrading these deepwater vessels successfully (1) Implementing of the lessons learned with respect to the originally installed systems on both units, both from a marine and operational perspective, and improvements made based upon these experiences; (2) the development of a project execution plan indicating key elements for upgrade; (3) the preparation of the docking of both vessels, specifically with respect to timing, logistics and the docking itself; (4) the actual execution of the docking with the lessons learned; (5) the subsequent operational and maintenance experience as a result of the upgrade process of both vessels.
