OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2008. Uralmash-Engineering, the engineering department of Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation (MC Uralmash), signed a contract for manufacture of five drilling rigs for Gazprom. The rig load capacity will be 200 tons, the drilling depth will achieve 3200 m. The contract was awarded in a bid with participation of Russian and Chinese companies. The rigs will feature state-of-the-art modular design with maximum utilization of wheel pairs. Haulers, semitrailers and dollies will be used for transportation of drilling rigs. The rigging-up at the wellsites will be performed using rig mechanisms, the utilization of cranes will be minimized.

This is the first contract for manufacture of drilling rigs after MC Uralmash announced that it returns to the market of drilling rigs. The contract provides for more than just manufacture of drilling rig equipment, its scope includes manufacture, assembly and testing of drilling rigs, personnel training and erection supervision.

The project implementation already began, the technical documentation development is in progress. The production startup is planned for the first quarter of 2009. The first rig shall be supplied in November 2009, the contract shall be fulfilled in the second quarter of 2010.

The basic engineering of drilling rigs shall be carried out by a partner of MC Uralmash from Industrial Drilling Rigs Ltd. consortium founded with participation of the French company DIETSWELL ENGINEERING S.A. The detail engineering will be carried out by Oil and Gas Drilling Equipment division and design department of ORMETO-YUMZ.

Uralmashplant will supply pumps, swivels, hook blocks, rotary tables and crown blocks included in the scope of the contract. The derricks, bases and circulating systems will be manufactured by ORMETO-YUMZ. The assembly of drilling rigs will be carried out at ORMETO-YUMZ site in Orsk as the rigs are intended for gas fields in Volga region and Orenburg Oblast.