Hydranautics Hydraulic Systems, Goleta, Calif., completed shipment recently of the skidding systems contracted by Western Oceanic, Inc., Houston, Texas, for use on Apollo III and IV. The Friede & Goldman designed L780 cantilever, self-elevating offshore drilling units are being built by China Shipbuilding Corp., Taiwan. The jackups are under contract by Udeco for operation in Abu Dhabi.
The building contract called for two rig sets of cantilever and drill floor skidding systems. Each system consists of a pair of Gripper Jack assemblies, each with a total capacity of 700 short tons in the cantilever skidding mode and 250 short tons in the drill floor skidding mode.
According to Western Oceanic officials, the amount of fabricated steel required to construct each of the jackups is reduced by 12 tons using Hydranautics' systems.