# Energy Searcher Drill Ship



## dom

*Energy Searcher Drill Ship*

energy searcher operated of the austrialian cost for 10 yrs,converted in hong kong in 82 built sweden 58.i did have her history but lost it


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## benjidog

Dom,

I moved this to a separate thread for you.

Brian


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## dom

*dom*



benjidog said:


> Dom,
> 
> I moved this to a separate thread for you.
> 
> Brian


thanks


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## gdynia

Dom

Do a Google Search with Energy Searcher Drill Ship and several good webpages about her come up.


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## dom

*dom*



gdynia said:


> Dom
> 
> Do a Google Search with Energy Searcher Drill Ship and several good webpages about her come up.


thanks i'll do that


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## dom

*dom*

thank you gdynia, considering her age 47yrs it puts to shame some ships now being scrapped after 15/20 yrs,she was built as an ore carier and converted to a drill ship in hong kong 82,i thought she would belong gone now.


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## gdynia

Dom
Heard thro the grapevine that a South African company were wanting her for offshore Diamond Mining but so far nothing came out of it.


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## Rennie Cameron

BY way of an update probably some two years old. ES was bought circa 1997 from the banks who had taken it back when the Aussie company went bust. The buyer was Maurel et Prom based in Paris and the man in charge of the venture was Yves de Pimodan formerly Commandant of "original" Calypso (Jacques Cousteau). Vessel upgraded for deep water drilling and drilled successfully for about 8 years until she lost several of her anchors and her BOP off India. After that M et P lost interest a little! She was then sold as a vessel and company (Jet Drilling Singapore) to a Fredriksen Drilling Division and upgraded further. That was the last I heard of her but I am confident she was still drilling 12 - ish months ago. She still had the same main engine which I seem recall was a Gotaverken For MetP at least she was a good buy. M et P came out the offshore drilling. Hope this helps. Sadly I no longer have access to photographs but she was a very successful and to my knowledge trouble free marine wise - French officers at that time.


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## dom

*dom*

thanks for that,she did have a bit of trouble,another ship?ended up in the courts ?? /dom


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## Rennie Cameron

Dom, not sure. The court issue was over the quality of the anchor chain. At least that was the one I knew of......I recall they tried to sue Cameron on the faulty welding of a slip joint on the riser. Any other court cases was not in the 5 years I knew her


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## Ali N

she was drilling for a company called oilsearch of yemen last year


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## Onzie

http://www.northernoffshorelimited.com/rig_fleet.html

This is a link from Northern Offshore web site. You will find the Energy Searcher there.


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## Bob Nowak

Energy Searcher just finished drilling off kalimantan, Indonesia and went into Singapore for maintenance and awaiting new contract


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## O.M.Bugge

She is still around. Sitting in S'pore at the moment WOWork.

The trouble with the chain and winches back in 1996-1997 was caused by wrong size chains being installed after the old chains got condemed (3 1/4" in place of 3") and generally bad maintenance of winches etc. due to the bad market back then. 

As far as I heard they failed to anchor her up off Vietnam and after 21 days the Oilco (Amoco I think) pulled the plug on her and she got arrested on arrival S'pore in early 1997. 

From the records the vessel delivered in 1959 as the Lappland, but the main engine was bench tested already in 1956 and is still going strong in 2009.
The Main Engine is Eriksberg B&W of 7,200 Bhp at 110 RPM but the last time I was on board the Ch.Eng. never gave us more than 85 Rpm. (2005) 

I was Master for the first trip for Jet Drilling, from S'pore to Gulf of Thailand in Sept. 1997 under own power. We made 10.5 kts. av. at 95 Rpm on the trip . 
Not bad for an old ship with sponsons added on each side.

Full specs ; http://www.northernoffshorelimited.com/pdfs/NOF Short Specifications - Energy Searcher Aug 2008.pdf


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## dom

*dom*

running anchors the centre stud on the links used to rattle like anything,Pusnes anchor winches,we replaced the brake on No 5 winch as it started to crack the rig mecanic did a good job


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## O.M.Bugge

*Guess what*



dom said:


> running anchors the centre stud on the links used to rattle like anything,Pusnes anchor winches,we replaced the brake on No 5 winch as it started to crack the rig mecanic did a good job


The reason why it rattled was that it was Stud Link Chains, not Studded chains. That was also the reason why it was thought that 3 1/4" chain would do the job. Actually, the old chains came off DS "Star Drill". I sold them some of the chains which replaced them, after she was taken over by Jet Drilling)

Now, guess what happened today?
I went OPL S'pore and there, among a lot of other vessels, was Energy Searcher still W.O.Work. She looked in fairly good nick too, although I didn't have time to go on board. 

I took some pics but don't know how to upload them to this site. (Pls. advise)


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## K urgess

O.M.Bugge said:


> I took some pics but don't know how to upload them to this site. (Pls. advise)


There are guidelines on the Member's Notice Board
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=12964
And some pointers if you read the whole of this thread
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=23888

If you want to attach pictures to a post such as this you must use the green post reply button rather than the quick reply box at the bottom.

Regards
Kris


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## O.M.Bugge

*Energy Searcher OPL S'pore 02.04.2009*

Here is the Energy Seracher at 50. Still going strong























































I will check if I have any "action pictures" from my last visit to the Searcher, while working for Talisman off Malaysia in 2006


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## dom

*dom*

thanks for posting the photos,she stll looks good after 50yrs


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## mhester

Those photos seem to have been removed.

Shame I was just looking on the web to see what happened to the Energy Searcher as my father Peter Hester was the captain for over a decade. 

Looks like it's still operating off Viet Nam where he last worked on it before retiring about 1993 from memory. 

We have a large framed photo of the Energy Searcher at home, given to us by the then operators of the ship Maritech (Perth).

Cheers
Mark


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## O.M.Bugge

Sorry Mark, re-posting:






















































Hope this comes out well.


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## rayco1952

rayco
I worked with Captain Peter Hester, he was a wonderful man and a Great Captain. He could knit also.


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## Kevin Wright

O.M.Bugge said:


> She is still around. Sitting in S'pore at the moment WOWork.
> 
> The trouble with the chain and winches back in 1996-1997 was caused by wrong size chains being installed after the old chains got condemed (3 1/4" in place of 3") and generally bad maintenance of winches etc. due to the bad market back then.
> 
> As far as I heard they failed to anchor her up off Vietnam and after 21 days the Oilco (Amoco I think) pulled the plug on her and she got arrested on arrival S'pore in early 1997.
> 
> From the records the vessel delivered in 1959 as the Lappland, but the main engine was bench tested already in 1956 and is still going strong in 2009.
> The Main Engine is Eriksberg B&W of 7,200 Bhp at 110 RPM but the last time I was on board the Ch.Eng. never gave us more than 85 Rpm. (2005)
> 
> I was Master for the first trip for Jet Drilling, from S'pore to Gulf of Thailand in Sept. 1997 under own power. We made 10.5 kts. av. at 95 Rpm on the trip .
> Not bad for an old ship with sponsons added on each side.
> 
> Full specs ; http://www.northernoffshorelimited.com/pdfs/NOF Short Specifications - Energy Searcher Aug 2008.pdf


Hi Captain Bugge, I just met you on the jack up rig Boss-6 in January this year in Singapore when you moved us from ST Marine shipyard in Tuas to Keppel Benoi Shipyard, I follow Energy Searcher as well, i was chiewf cook onboard from 1982 to 1984 in Oz, I engaged with ES when she came out of the shipyard in Hong KOng after her first conversion, the ES is currently still in Singapore right now and on the market for sale. Cheers to you All Kevin


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## O.M.Bugge

Energy Searcher seen at OPL West 12.07.2013:


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## Duncan J O MacKenzie

*Sad end*

The Energy Searcher is in Bahrain being stripped prior to being towed to the breakers. Sad end.


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## Stubai

Duncan J O MacKenzie said:


> The Energy Searcher is in Bahrain being stripped prior to being towed to the breakers. Sad end.


I was the Chief Electrician on the Searcher from 2010 until 2016 when it was cold stacked in Bahrain. (I did the sail from Cameroon where we were warm stacked after a contract came to an end in Nigeria).

We worked mostly in south east asia (Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia) before it was warm stacked OPL Singapore. We then got a contract for Nigeria.

I'm hearing different reports on the Ship. Firstly, when you do a search, it shows up off the coast of Dominican Repuplic as of July last year. (another search shows last position in Bahrain still)

However, Duncan said it was still in Bahrain post July last year being stripped out.

Anyway, by far the best Rig I have ever worked on. I honestly loved that old ship. The engine room had so much history and, to be honest, hardly gave us any issues at all despite being 50+ years old!!

I was told it had been sold on to another company but cant seem to find out any details.

Would be great to find out the full info on what has happened to it. A friend also still seen it in Bahrain in Mid July.


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## Stubai

Just to let people know, the Energy Searcher was scrapped last October by Northern Offshore . Thats from people still with the company :-(


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## Blakus

Stubai said:


> Just to let people know, the Energy Searcher was scrapped last October by Northern Offshore . Thats from people still with the company :-(


A great pity, I was the electrical engineer during the fitout and commissioning in Hong Kong and subsequently for the first holes off the west coast australia. The final work was carried out on the trip down due to time constraints for spudding in. A very sturdy vessel !!


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