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Intelligent Engineering is currently involved in a drilling rig repair project, using its SPS Overlay in the reinstatement of the pipe-rack deck on board the Pride South Atlantic, a semi-submersible unit belonging to Pride International. Work onboard the Pride South Atlantic is the lat- est in a series of new offshore contracts, and will involve the reinstatement of a 490 sq. m. deck area to be carried out at the Maua Jurong facility in Niteroi, close to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. "We have deliberately targeted the offshore sec- tor for a number of reasons," said Denis Welch, SPS Overlay director. "One, a significant percent- age of the world's mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) are 20 years old or more and require steel upgrades and reinstatements. Two, day rates are high and operators are keen to extend the lives of these older units with minimal disruption. And three, growing concern over the impact resistance of pontoons and decks in light of last year's hurri- cane season provides an ideal opportunity for us to promote the properties of our Sandwich Plate System." IE has secured a number of contracts -- complet- ed and pending -- for a number of drilling compa- nies. With its licensee Keppel, IE has also recently completed a deck reinstatement on board the semi- submersible Atwood Seahawk at the Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Sdn. Bhd. facility in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. This project, the com- pany's first in Malaysia, was for U.S. drilling con- tractor Atwood Oceanics of Houston. Meanwhile, GlobalSantaFe is reportedly pleased with work recently completed by IE at Kiewit Offshore Services in Ingleside, Texas to reinforce areas of the lower pontoons, located above the four thruster rooms on board the semi-submersible drilling rig Development Driller 1. The company has signed up for similar reinforcement work to be carried out on the pontoons of a newbuild rig, cur- rently under construction at Keppel FELS in Singapore. "We are very pleased with the increased level of lower hull watertight integrity produced by the application of the SPS Overlay to the pontoon tops in way of all four thrusters rooms," said Mike Kucharski, Director of GlobalSantaFe's Semi sub- mersible Building Program. Speaking on behalf of Kiewit Offshore Services, Project Manager Vic Rosen said, "We knew that 34 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News Repair Offshore Boom Boosts IE Perimeter bars being put in place. Work on Development Driller 1 included reinforcement of areas in the lower pontoons, located above the four thruster rooms on board the semi-submersible drilling rig. MR AUGUST2006 #5 (33-40).qxd 8/2/2006 5:59 PM Page 34
