Diamond Offshore, Trelleborg To Jointly Develop Riser Design

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) has inked a Joint Development Agreement with Trelleborg’s offshore operation to develop, manufacture and market the Helical Buoyancy riser technology developed by the former.

This advanced, patented riser buoyancy design decreases riser drag and reduces Vortex-Induced Vibration in offshore applications, in turn, improving operational efficiency.

This technology can be used as a substitute for adding fairings or strakes to the drilling riser. At the same time, it lowers deployment time and operating costs. The Helical Buoyancy design also makes operations in challenging environments safer. This is because the personnel no longer need to work below the drill floor to fasten a separate apparatus once the solution is implemented.

Diamond Offshore had been using Computational Fluid Dynamics and high Reynolds Number Wind Tunnel testing for several years to develop the “helical” design. The company has joined forces with Trelleborg to further develop the Helical Buoyancy applications across the offshore drilling market with additional application engineering, data acquisition, and testing.

In concurrence with this agreement, Diamond Offshore has ordered Helical Buoyancy from Trelleborg for drilling risers on two of its sixth-generation drillships – Ocean BlackRhino and Ocean BlackLion. Currently, both these drillships are under contract in a high-current area in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

Diamond Offshore is a major contract driller that provides comprehensive offshore drilling services to the global energy industry. The company’s drilling fleet of 32 consists of 23 semi-submersibles (of which one is under construction), five jackups and four dynamically-positioned drillships. The company’s rigs operate in South America, Australia and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, East and West Africa, the Mediterranean, and the GoM.

Currently, Diamond Offshore Drilling carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the oil and gas sector include CVR Refining, LP (NYSE:CVRR) , PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE:PTR) and Braskem S.A. (NYSE:BAK) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).