# West Venture



## shipnils

Hello all

I am for the time being compiling a fleetlist of the Norwegian ship and rig owner Peder Smedvig A/S - Smedvig Drilling Co. of Stavanger.

In that sense I need some information about their first drilling rig "West Venture" built 1973. In the middle of the 80's they transferred the rig to British registry. Anybody who knows when?
About 1992-93 the rig was sold for scrapping. Which company did the demolition, where and when?

Best regards
Shipnils


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## shipnils

No answers to this one, but I have found from another source that the rig was transferred to British registry i 1988 in the ownership of Smedvig Ltd.,Aberdeen.

In about about 1992 the rig was dismantled in the Cromarty Firth.
Anybody who have some details? As far as I know, Cameron Holdsworth Associates was involved in the project.

regards
Shipnils


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## DenisM

shipnils said:


> Hello all
> 
> I am for the time being compiling a fleetlist of the Norwegian ship and rig owner Peder Smedvig A/S - Smedvig Drilling Co. of Stavanger.
> 
> In that sense I need some information about their first drilling rig "West Venture" built 1973. In the middle of the 80's they transferred the rig to British registry. Anybody who knows when?
> About 1992-93 the rig was sold for scrapping. Which company did the demolition, where and when?
> 
> Best regards
> Shipnils


Hello

I remember West Venture arriving on Grand Banks of Newfoundland abt 1983 for a 3/4 year charter to Mobil Oil ( took the place of the sunken Ocean Ranger), I was 2nd Mate on a supply vessel, and was alongside her many times


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## Blackal

This is a bit anecdotal, but here's what I heard:

The West Venture sat up near the Cromarty Bridge for years, and was finally purchased by a local Salvage interest. Not sure about the purchase price, but I believe that they removed the cranes, selling them on.

Then, they put the rig back on the market, and sold it for what they paid for it (Thumb) 

The company that bought it, hadn't thought through the dismantling process, and how the cranes were a bit of a necessity for that process - so ended up hiring a crawler crane on a barge to effect the dismantling. The other factor that they hadn't figured on - was that a lot of the voids in the columns had been filled with closed-cell foam to increase the rig's "reserve buoyancy" in service. This foam made the task of cutting the columns with Oxy-propane - nigh on impossible (EEK) 

Took ages to dismantle, and I'm not sure what the profit was in the operation - if any.

It always seemed like the original purchaser got the best deal.

Al (Thumb)


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## gdynia

Shipnils

Do a Google search with Oil Rig West Venture theres alot of photos and info on her


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## Don Matheson

I also heard that the first buyer who sold off the cranes made as much from the cranes as he had paid for the rig. Does not sound right but I think he then worked out that without the cranes the job was a nightmare to cut up so got rid as fast as he could.
May be a oilfield fairy tale and I would welcome any other thoughts on this.
Don


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## Blackal

Don Matheson said:


> I also heard that the first buyer who sold off the cranes made as much from the cranes as he had paid for the rig. Does not sound right but I think he then worked out that without the cranes the job was a nightmare to cut up so got rid as fast as he could.
> May be a oilfield fairy tale and I would welcome any other thoughts on this.
> Don


That's pretty much how I heard it too - the cranes covered his outlay on the rig, and selling the rig on was the icing on the cake. Stranger things have happened, and the rig appeared to be more of a liability than an asset.

At $130 a barrel - they'd have it out digging now!

Al (Thumb)


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## stuart(diver)

I used to work on the Semi's in Inver-G until fairly recently, and was told this same story quite a few times. A local Dive Supervisor who was up there at the time told me that the potoons were sunk in-situ.


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