CHRISTENING OF OIL RIG,TUPAZ DRILLER, AT PPL SHIPYARD (TUAS)

I was privileged to be invited as a part of my housing estate residents' committee to the christening ceremony of a Pacific Class 375 oil rig built by PPL (Promet Pte Ltd), a shipyard in Tuas on Feb 26. This is the rig just before the christening ceremony. It was christened "Tupaz Driller" by Mrs Hanh, wife of the boss of the Vietnamese company which leased the rig for oil exploration in Vietnam.

The rig all decked out for its christening on the evening of Feb 26.

If this reminds you of Spiderman, it's alright. This is a view of the drill used for oil exploration from the deck.

Another piece of machinery used in oil exploration operations.

This machine is called the T-Wrex (after the dinosaur T-Rex) and is used in the assembly and breaking of drill joints. It has to be quite a machine considering that the drill joints may go to a depth of about a mile below the sea-bed!

Some members of our housing estate residents' committee with a crew member.

The oil drilling operation control room which controls drilling operations. It's sound proof and is air-conditioned as the noise generated can be deafening.

This is called the mud bucket. Invariably, mud will be extracted in the exploration for oil and this contains it. Beneath the bucket is a tank used to store mud.

Two Frenchmen having an animated discussion about the choke-and-kill manifold.

This contraption is called the choke-and-kill manifold. When oil is discovered, the manifold "chokes" the oil in the sea-bed for extraction later in a separate operation.

A guest at the chair, which reminded me of the movie "Avatar". With its joy-sticks it is used by the driller to control up to 90% of drilling operations. It's augmented by two computer screens which display essential data while the operation is on.

The deck on which many drill joints are stored.

One of the legs for stabilising the rig.

Various types of equipment and machinery are supplied and then installed on the rig. This particular one is supplied by Baker Marine.

Some ferries constructed by the shipyard.

The air-conditioned crew room where meals are taken.

This is where the food for the crew is cooked. Not bad considering that it's an air-conditioned galley and the cooks being in high spirits will always dish out good food.

This rig, the "Al-Qahar", is being constructed for an Egyptian owner. During this stage of construction, note that the rig is raised high on all its three legs.

Guests leaving by the gangway after a tour of the rig.

The port (left) side of the rig contains the crew accommodation and amenities and offices. Nice place to be because it's all air-conditioned.