Discoverer Enterprise in the foreground on May 26, 2010, directly over the blowout preventer during the top kill procedure in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Discoverer Enterprise has two sister ships, Discoverer Spirit completed in 1999, and Discoverer Deep Seas completed in 2000.
The ship was the first to offer a dual drilling derrick capability. The dual derricks allowed simultaneous operations to be performed, and according to Transocean increased efficiency by 40 percent.[4]
The US$360 million ship gives its name to the Enterpriseclass of large deepwater drillships.[5]
Deepwater Horizon spill response
The ship operates in the Gulf of Mexico under contract to BP. The drilling vessel has equipment that allow it to process hydrocarbons, and is capable of handling up to 15,000 barrels per day (2,400m3/d).[6] On June 3, 2010, several weeks after the explosion of Deepwater Horizon, Discoverer Enterprise was used to collect oil and gas from the damaged subsea wellhead by lowering a cap connected via a drilling riser over the release, and collecting oil and gas.[7]
Q4000 and Discoverer Enterprise flare off gas at the site of drilling operations at the Deepwater Horizon response site in the Gulf of Mexico at night 8 July 2010.
↑Laura Meckler; Jonathan Weisman (8 June 2010). "Obama to Reopen Oil Drilling". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 June 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
