Aker H-6e drilling rigs featured on Discovery Channel
A major feat of engineering will be successfully concluded when, by the end of this month, Aker Solutions hands over the second of two Aker H-6e drilling rigs to Aker Drilling. Building two of the world's most advanced drilling rigs, tailored to operate in harsh environments, extreme temperatures and in ultra-deep waters, has been an extraordinary project that quickly caught the attention of the Discovery Channel.
Discovery, the non-fiction media channel with hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world, selected the project to be part of its popular series "Mega Builders".
The TV channel will broadcast a 60 minute documentary about the Aker H-6e project in 24 European and Asian countries, bringing Aker Solutions' engineering and management expertise to its broadest-ever worldwide audience. The programme is scheduled to be aired in Norway on Sunday 28 June at 22:00.
- I am very proud of what we have accomplished. This has been one of the most challenging and developing engineering projects we have been involved in. We are delivering the most advanced drilling rigs the world has ever seen. They are specially designed to meet high environmental standards and can operate in ultra deep waters, harsh environments, extreme temperatures and long distances from supply infrastructure. With these rigs we meet the oil companies need to conduct oil exploration in increasingly challenging environments, says Simen Lieungh, president and CEO in Aker Solutions.
Jan Andersen, general manager for Discovery Networks Nordic, says the TV channel had a number of reasons for selecting this particular project to fill a whole one-hour episode of its very popular series, in a season consisting of only six shows.
"The main consideration was that the H-6e designs will be the largest mobile rigs in the world that are specifically designed to drill for oil under extreme conditions in very unforgiving environments. The story is also fascinating because construction happened in two very different locations - Norway and Dubai. What's more, the hulls were built in sections, which then had to be assembled, and we have never shown anything quite like that on Mega Builders."
The Aker H-6e builds on the good experience acquired from the Aker H-3 and Aker H-4 design, counting a total of 37 units. Most of them are more than 30 years old and with these new rigs Akers rig design is ready to operate also for the next 40 years.
