RE: Spudding Tai-C September confirmed4 Aug 2023 10:55
As far as a race with Noble is concerned, the Ship contracted to move Marriot's Rig from Hull to DeS is currently just leaving the Kiel Canal and heading up-river to Hamburg ETA 16.30 today. If Unloading or picking up Cargo, then it may be Monday 7th before it sails for Hull, so earliest it is likely to leave Hull is end of next week 11th August. So with direct route to DeS and then overland to site, this rig will not be drilling in September, in my opinion. The upside for Noble is that they have Marriot's resident crew ready to go, who will know their Rig inside out, so a quick set-up and Spud likely.
We, HE1, are talking September Spud, but need to confirm a competent Crew, and the likelihood is they will need time and trial runs to get up to speed with our Rig, unless they all have previous knowledge of the Epic we have! Would be very unlikely to get such a crew off the shelf, so to speak. For me this is the Critical area of planning we need to get spot on now!
Just hope we get some news on the Crew appointments next week to keep momentum going forward here.