AWILCO SENDS ITS AGING SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE WILHUNTER TO THE GRAVEYARD

The Aberdeen-based Awilco drilling advised that its cold-stacked semi-submersible drilling rig WilHunter will be sold for scrap. The company estimates the scrap value at approximately $11.5 million.
WilHunter completed its last drilling program for Hess in 2015 and has been subsequently cold-stacked in the Scottish port of Invergordon, on the Cromarty Firth.
WilHunter, is a Friede & Goldman L-907 Enhanced Pacesetter mid-water drilling unit built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering at Okpo Shipyard in South Korea. The rig was delivered in 1983. WilHunter was formerly also known as Benreach (1995). Stena Forth (1997), Glomar Arctic IV (2003) and GSF Arctic IV (2010).
Following the sale, the company will own only one drilling unit, the 1982-built mid-water semi-submersible WilPhoenix which is currently ready stacked after completing an exploration well at the Fotta field, northeast of Aberdeen, for Ithaca Oil and Gas.
In March 2018, Awilco ordered from Keppel Offshore and Marine, two 7th generation Moss Maritime CS60 ECO semi-submersibles. First steel for the first unit, named Nordic Winter, was cut in November 2019 at Keppel shipyard in Nantong, China. In June 2020 Awilco canceled the order. Keppel terminated the construction contract and served Awilco with a notice of arbitration.
( Source: Awilco/Keppel O7M – Image: WilHunter, ex. GSF Arctic IV)