''Development Driller III'' is a fifth generation,

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

- flagged

dynamic positioning Dynamic positioning (DP) is a computer-controlled system to automatically maintain a vessel's position and heading by using its own propellers and thrusters. Position reference sensors, combined with wind sensors, motion sensors and gyrocompas ...

semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: *Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface *S ...

ultra-deepwater drilling rig owned by

Transocean Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Steinhausen, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, ...

and operated under lease agreements by various petroleum exploration and production companies worldwide. The vessel is capable of drilling in water depths up to with drilling depth of , upgradeable to . On 2 May 2010, ''Development Driller III'' started drilling a relief well on

Macondo Prospect The Macondo Prospect (Mississippi Canyon Block 252, abbreviated MC252) is an oil and gas prospect in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. The prospect was the site of the ''Deepwater Horiz ...

to stop massive oil spill caused by the explosion and subsequent loss of the ''

Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, Dynamic positioning, dynamically positioned, Semi-submersible platform, semi-submersible offshore drilling Oil platform, rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, ...

''.

References

External links

Transocean official website

at ''VesselTracker'' {{Deepwater 2009 ships Drilling rigs Semi-submersibles Ships built in Singapore Transocean