''GSP Saturn'' is a Sonat Orion class 4-legged jackup, cantilever drilling unit operated by GSP Drilling, a

Grup Servicii Petroliere Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP Offshore) is a Romanian company providing offshore integrated services for Oil industry, oil and gas industry. The company, established in 2004, is a member of UPETROM Group. Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP Offshore) ...

subsidiary. The drilling unit is registered in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Description

''GSP Saturn'' drilling unit was designed by

Sonat Offshore 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 was built by

Petrom OMV Petrom S.A. is a Romanian integrated oil company, controlled by Austria's OMV. It is one of the largest corporations in Romania and the largest oil and gas producer in Southeast Europe. Since 2004 it is a subsidiary of OMV. With 2022 reve ...

at the

Galați shipyard The Galați shipyard (), formally Damen Shipyards Galați, is a shipyard located on the maritime sector of the Danube in Galați, a city located in the Moldavia region of Romania. It was founded in 1893 as the ''G. Fernic et Co Mechanical constru ...

in 1988. The rig was completely reconstructed and refurbished in 2009 at a cost of US$50 million. The rig was owned and operated by

from 1988 to 2005 when the company sold its six offshore platforms (including

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

Orizont ''Orizont'' is a 2015 Romanian drama film written and directed by , adapted from the novella ' by Ioan Slavici. Plot Cast * András Hatházi - Lucian * - Andra * Bogdán Zsolt - Zoli * - Pintea * - Adi * Maria Seleș - Victoria * Elena Pur ...

, Prometeu and Saturn) to

for US$100 million. ''GSP Saturn'' has a length of , breadth of , draft of , height of and depth of . She has a maximum drilling depth of and she could operate at a water depth of . As a drilling rig, ''GSP Saturn'' is equipped with advanced drilling equipment and has to meet strict levels of certification under international law. ''GSP Saturn'' is able to maneuver with its own

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

s (to counter drift and ocean currents), but for long-distance relocation it must be moved by specialist

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

s. The rig is capable of withstanding severe sea conditions including waves and winds.

Operations

''GSP Saturn'' has operated in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, and was most recently seen drilling in the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:GSP Saturn 1988 ships Jack-up rigs Semi-submersibles Ships built in Romania