![钻井市场谁主沉浮:Robray公司32年历史探秘](http://www.oilsns.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/tt7.jpg)
石油行业总是经历周期性的起起落落,在低潮期总会有一些曾经辉煌一时的公司陨落,钻井辅助平台解决方案的先驱Robray公司便是其一,这家昔日的新加坡公司从开创到消失的32年岁月中曾经在石油行业呼风唤雨、风头一时无两,Robray公司到底经历了什么?本文将为您探秘。
曾经辉煌一时的一些大型钻井公司,如Zapata、Reading & Bates、Offshore Company、Sedco-Forex、Pride、Global Marine以及Santa Fe都已经倒闭或被兼并,而一些更小的公司早已从人们的视野中完全消失了。
这其中包括一家名不见经传的东南亚小公司——Robray海洋钻井公司(Robray Offshore Drilling)。由于公司的存在早于互联网时代,所以网上有价值的资料很少。不过,对于这样一家小却是行业先驱的企业,这篇文章应该可以一定程度上填补其历史信息的空白。
1974-1980:Robray引入辅助平台概念 初露头角
Robray公司由新加坡富豪Robin Loh创立并经营,同时他还拥有一家航运公司、一家航空公司、一家IT公司和一家造船厂,而且他与Pertamina(印尼国油)的时任老大Ibnu Sutowo关系匪浅,确切的说属于互利共赢的关系。Robin想从20世纪70年代中页的石油繁荣期中分一杯羹,便与Reading & Bates的区域老大Ray Williams合作成立了Robray,从印尼国油那里拿到了大量关于钻井设备的订单,并开始组建自己的一系列钻井平台。
公司成立之初只有三部便携式钻机在印尼提供服务,与此同时,其姊妹公司Robin船厂开始建造首批的两座自动装配钻井辅助驳船平台。Reading&Bates首先提出了辅助钻井平台的观点,即在井口平台外开钻孔,而Ray Williams将这个理念带到了Robray,并从原公司挖走了大批区域管理人员和钻井队人员,大大削弱了原公司的力量。 在迁入位于Shenton大道的Robina House之前,该公司在马可波罗酒店办公。酒店的休息室便是他们的会议室,该酒店在新加坡以爱尔兰咖啡和服务员的特色穿着著称。
便携式钻机主要在Sumatra、Kalimantan以及和Robin有家族关系的Irian Jaya(Sorong)服务。最终平台都被卖掉了,两部卖给了印尼承包商Medco/ Apexindo,其余的卖到了澳大利亚,但这些钻机完成了自己初创公司的光荣使命。
与此同时,起初以一位过世的创始人名字命名的HP Thrower号,后来改为Robray T-1的第一部自动装配钻井辅助平台拿到了迪拜石油公司(Dubai Petroleum)的合同。但是工作开始后不久,该平台就发生了严重的井喷事故,井口平台和辅助平台井架都化为灰烬。所幸Robray及时建造了Robray T-2(最初命名为Aquarius Star)替换烧毁的平台井架,如此迅速的反应能力也让Robray声名鹊起,该井架也一直服务到公司被兼并。替换T-2井架的工作进展得非常顺利,因为Robin旗下拥有井架制造商Pyramid Derrick公司,而其正好位于新加坡Robray船厂的旁边。Robray T-2建成后,在印尼的Balikpapan市为优尼科公司服务。
Robray还建造了一座平台钻机P-1,安装在位于Sabah州Kota Kinabalu旁的Tembungo平台,主要给Esso马来西亚公司服务。最初马来西亚引进PSC系统的时候,Esso公司拒绝合作,并关停了所有作业。P-1因此停工了1年左右,当时的员工只有待命费,直到Esso后来同意了马来西亚的PSC条款。由于此前的P-1钻机主要从事修复和刷漆作业,因此,它成为了当时全世界最干净、保存最好的钻机。
1980-1986:Robray系列平台创建 盛极一时
那时,Ray Williams已经退休,Jack Walters成了公司新的掌舵人, T-3正处于建造阶段。1980年,T-3开始在泰国为优尼科服务。同年,公司与埃尔夫(Elf)洽谈关于再次建造两座钻井辅助平台的交易,即T-4和T-5平台,并在加蓬签订了合同。Robray之所以能赢得合同,是因其已经能够实现快速操作平台的作业,这让它在竞争中脱颖而出。Robray是唯一一家满足埃尔夫严苛的平台操作时间要求的公司,大约为12天。当时Robray操作平台的平均时间是5天。根据埃尔夫的合同,不管实际作业天数是多少,Robray都能拿到12天的全额日费,可以说这份合同使Robray公司的利润相当可观。
至此,Robray成为了领先的钻井辅助设备公司,这一方面源于其直接竞争对手的专业化程度较低,另一方面公司的平台系列除了钻井辅助平台外,还有了更多自升式平台及钻井船,而且他们的眼光并没有停留在较小的市场区域。在那个时代,Robray逐渐以“我能”的公司精神为世人所熟知,也许在如今以环保安全观念为主导的环境下这么说有些不妥,但在当时他们赢得了高效、专业化钻井公司的美誉,尽管他们的业务只涉及行业的一个小小领域。
钻井辅助驳船平台受限于浅水良好海域作业环境,这意味着其工作范围仅限于东南亚、部分西非、埃及和阿拉伯海湾地区,同时也限制了平台可服务的客户数量。但Robray的客户却包括优尼科公司(之后的雪佛龙)、埃克森美孚、埃尔夫、道达尔、壳牌和马来西亚国油等著名企业。Robray相对来说算个小公司,其大部分基地位于钻井平台工作的区域,而且它有着精简而年轻的管理团队,可以不用参考德克萨斯总部的意见而自己做出快速决策,这些条件让Robray在招标时优势凸显。
优尼科是一个特别难应付、苛刻的客户,但他们却很欣赏T-3平台的工作业绩,后来优尼科询问时任老板Jack Walters看Robray是否愿意再建造4座平台为其在泰国服务。但出乎大多数人预料的是Jack只同意建造2座平台,这使得其新的竞争对手Great Eastern Drilling公司建造了另外两座。后来,T-6和T-7平台分别于1982年和1983年开始服役。T-7为优尼科服务了30年,至今保持着世界上最长合同期限的记录。该钻机于2015年报废,从制造到报废,T-7仅仅只为泰国、只为优尼科提供过服务。
此前该公司已经把其业务从钻井辅助平台向自升式平台扩展了。这始于Robin从ETA手中为Robin船厂购买了自升式设计,同时雇佣了专业设计师。除了当时Robin船厂正在为印度和中国建造的ETA ROBCO 300自升式平台外,Robray还在日本的日立船厂建造了两座同样设计的平台。第一座平台Ednastar于1977年建成,第二年开始为Elf阿曼服务,后来为道达尔伊朗公司和道达尔阿布扎比公司服务。伊朗革命使得Ednastar与道达尔的合同终止,后来平台被神秘地卖给了朝鲜的Yu Song,即现正在中国服务的中海油服935。第二座平台Ednarina在运往巴西后被卖掉了,后来也到了中国成为渤海四号,可以说Robray从未使用这两部钻机作业过。
1986-2006:两度易主 由盛转衰
20世纪80年代初期,Robray发展地很顺利,而此时Jack Walters离开了,由之前就职于优尼科的Clyde Stephens接任。但之后出现了1986年的石油危机,和所有其他钻井承包商一样,Robray经历着低钻机日费、合同和融资损失带来的资金困难。当时正在埃及服务的T-4平台也被债权人运出国,Robin Loh对钻井行业彻底失望了,有了退出的想法。本来Clyde Stephens已经准备与想要收购Robray的主要竞争对手Foramer签订合同,但Robin对收购不太满意,并指示Clyde做出其他选择。优尼科建议Clyde去找挪威的Smedvig公司,Smedvig公司是一家雄心勃勃的公司,当时正寻求扩大业务,因此这笔交易很快便达成。虽然有些Smedvig的内部人员对这家名不见经传的“简单的钻井机器”不感兴趣,但买下Robray确实成为了Smedvig最具眼光、收益最高的收购之一。
同时,1989年,Robray从超强台风中逃过一劫。台风Gay袭击了泰国湾,将优尼科旗下所有、Great Eastern运营的钻井船Seacrest倾覆,97人丧生。当时,T-4和T-7也在该海湾服务。T-7平台先遇袭,8根锚线的7根断了,最终在工作船的帮助下免遭平台被撞毁甚至倾覆的风险。T-4 平台8根锚线全部断掉,150吨的主吊车Favco被风从甲板上掀翻,平台处于沉没的危险中。
高级副队长Axel Lutz用床垫将甲板的洞堵住,并放下海锚减缓了平台倒下的速度。与此同时,钻井队人员仍然留在平台上,他们必须在没有食物和水的情况下生存一天,当时大家都有些心灰意冷。最终,该平台由工作船拖回了Songhla,钻井队人员被成功营救。可以说,Robray已经算是非常幸运了。
随着北海市场的不景气,Smedvig和Robray将市场从北海转向了亚太地区,并取得了一定的成功。West Delta和West Alpha都被动员到了印度尼西亚、越南和中国寻求包租合同。但它们很快又被动员回挪威,因为北海市场有所回暖,这也帮助Robray在该地区获得了钻井辅助平台领域以外更多的曝光度。
Smedvig一直在寻求扩张。老板Peter Smedvig的目标是成为世界三大钻井承包商之一,他们通过购买或建造更多的钻井平台以扩大市场份额。但Robray却一直未能在文莱找到工作量订单。壳牌在当地很有实力,后来市场被壳牌青睐的承包商Petrodrill占据。 Smedvig通过收购Petrodrill获得了一台非自动装配驳船Tiga Kali,后来成了T-8,并拥有了Pelaut。Pelaut平台建于1994年,是有史以来第一座半钻井辅助平台,也是Petrodrill的所有者Foster Manning的产品。除了进入文莱市场,Smedvig资助Robray发展半钻井辅助平台解决方案,并在1999年建造了第二台改进的设备West Menang,它后来也为壳牌工作。自那以后,Smedvig公司先后建造了6座半钻井辅助平台,许多公司开始效仿这种方案,如Atlantica、PV Drilling和Energy Drilling,而后者简直就是第二个Robray公司。
当Clyde Stephens离开后,Smedvig的前CEO Staale Roed 接手公司,他是钻井辅助平台的强烈拥护者,以至于多年后,当他离开Smedvig加入到Energy Drilling公司后,可以与很多前Robray同事一起共事。
2006年,Robray的时代正式结束,Seadrill收购了Smedvig,Robray的名字永远消失了。Seadrill后来在2013年将大多数钻井辅助平台卖给了马来西亚的SapuraKencana公司。
但Robray公司的理念一直伴随着当前SapuraKencana和Energy Drilling公司的前Robray雇作为Robray“家族”的一员,大家都极力保护钻井辅助平台市场,正如有句话所说,“曾经辅助钻井平台人永远辅助钻井平台人”。
铭记Robray的时代:1974年至2006年。
作者/InboundRSS 译者/白小明 编辑/李倩
Among the more illustrious drilling contractors that have crashed and burned or have been swallowed up, such as Zapata, Reading & Bates, Offshore Company, Sedco-Forex, Pride, Global Marine, Santa Fe etc., there are a host of other smaller lesser known outfits who have disappeared over the years.
One such is the little known, at least outside of South East Asia, Robray Offshore Drilling. I recently had an inquiry asking if I could direct them to a website that gave some history of this erstwhile Singaporean company but it predated the internet and there is precious little information available in the public domain. However, I worked for Robray for 25 years from its inception in 1974 and including the years when it was absorbed up by Norway’s Smedvig in 1986. It seems right to correct this lack of historical information about this small but pioneering company by at least a blog!
Robray was started and owned by who owned a shipping line, an airline, an IT company, a shipyard and more besides and had close connections to Pertamina’s then head Ibnu Sutowo, both of whom profited significantly from the relationship. Robin wanted to participate in the oil boom of the mid 1970’s and in partnership Singaporean multi-millionaire Robin Loh with Ray Williams, then Regional head of Reading and Bates, they formed Robray, placing a significant number of orders with National for drilling equipment for their planned fleet of drilling rigs.
Initially they began with three heli-rigs that all worked in Indonesia while a sister company, Robin Shipyard, begin construction of the first two self-erecting tender assist barge rigs. Reading and Bates had pioneered the tender rig concept for development drilling off wellhead platforms and Ray Williams brought the concept to Robray as well as decimating his ex-company by stealing many of its regional management and rig crews. Before moving into Robin’s Robina House in Shenton Way the company began life in the Marco Polo Hotel. The conference room was the hotel lounge, renowned in Singapore for its Irish Coffee’s and the dresses worn by the waitresses!
The heli-rigs worked in Sumatra, Kalimantan and especially in Irian Jaya (Sorong) where Robin had family links. The rigs were eventually sold off, two to Indonesian contractor Medco/Apexindo and the other into Australia but they had served their purpose in getting the company started.
Meanwhile the first self-erecting tender rig, then called the HP Thrower after a founder member who had passed away but later re-named the Robray T-1, garnered a contract with Dubai Petroleum. Not long after the rig began work they had a major blow-out and the wellhead platform plus the rig’s derrick set were burnt to cinders. Robray quickly replaced the derrick set with that from under construction Robray T-2 (initially called Aquarius Star) thus gaining a reputation for fast action which it maintained throughout the life of the company. Replacement of T-2’s derrick set was made that much easier because Robin also owned manufacturer Pyramid Derrick who were in the yard next to Robray’s yard in Singapore. When Robray T-2 was completed it went to work off Balikpapan in Indonesia for Unocal.
Robray also built a platform rig, P-1, which was contracted to Esso Malaysia, and sat on the Tembungo platform off Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. When Malaysia introduced the PSC system Esso initially refused to play ball and shut down all its operations. P-1 was shut in for around one year, on standby rate and full crew, until Esso capitulated and agreed to Malaysia’s PSC terms. P-1 had become the cleanest and best kept rig in the world as the only action on board was chipping and painting.
By this time Ray Williams had retired and Jack Walters assumed the Presidency and the construction of the T-3 was underway. It also went to work for Unocal but in Thailand in 1980. A deal was also struck with Elf, in 1980, to build two more tender rigs, T-4 and T-5, for contracts in Gabon, won because by this time Robray had perfected the art of fast rig up/rig down operations that left their competition in the shade. Robray was the only company that was prepared to accept Elf’s limit on rig up times, which if memory serves me correctly was 12 days. By this time Robray had rig moves down to a fine art and averaged 5 days. Under the Elf contract Robray was paid full dayrate for 12 days irrespective of the time it took to complete the operation, which made it a lucrative contract.
Robray had by now established itself as the leading tender assist company, aided by the fact that their direct competition all operated less specialized and larger fleets that included more sexy jackups and floaters as well as their few tender rigs and their full focus was not always on keeping up with such a small market sector. In the spirit of that age Robray became known for being a “can do” company, something that probably is not appropriate in today’s health and safety dominated world and they also developed a reputation as a very efficient and professional drilling company albeit operating in a small sector of the industry.
Tender barges were limited by environmental factors to shallow water and benign environments which meant operations were restricted to South East Asia, parts of West Africa, Egypt and the Arabian Gulf. It also limited the number of clients it could work for as they could only drill off wellhead platforms in shallow benign waters but these clients included Unocal (later Chevron), ExxonMobil. Elf, Total, Shell and Petronas among others. Robray befitted from being a small company that was based in the region where most of its fleet worked and had a small and young management team capable of making quick decisions without reference to a headquarters in Texas
Unocal was an especially tough and demanding client to work for but they liked the job that T-3 was doing and called up Jack Walters and asked him if Robray would build four more tenders to work in Thailand. Much to many people’s chagrin Jack would only agree to build two thus allowing in new competition, Great Eastern Drilling, who built the other two rigs. Thus T-6 and T-7 came about and entered active service in 1982 and 1983 respectively. T-7 must hold the world’s record for the longest contract term as it worked for Unocal (and Chevron after the acquisition) for 30 years. The rig was scrapped in 2015 having only ever worked in Thailand and only for one client.
Earlier the company had sidetracked from the tender business into jackups, brought about when Robin purchased a jackup design (and the designer) from ETA for Robin Shipyard. While Robin Shipyard was building ETA Robco 300 jackups for India and China, Robray were themselves having two built of the same design but in Hitachi Zosen shipyard in Japan. The first, Ednastar, was completed in 1977 but did not go to work until the following year when it started up with Elf Oman before moving onto Total Iran and Total Abu Dhabi. The Iranian revolution put a stop to the Total contract and the rig was then sold off mysteriously to later emerge as the Yu Song in North Korea. It is now the COSL 935 and is working in China. The second, Ednarina, was sold after delivery to interests in Brazil but later also ended up in China as the Bohai IV. Robray never operated this rig.
Things were looking good by the early 80’s. By this time Jack Walters had gone and was replaced by Clyde Stephens, formerly with Unocal. But then came oil crisis of 1986 and like all drilling contractors Robray suffered financial difficulties with low rates for their rigs, loss of contracts and financing issues. T-4, by this time working in Egypt, was smuggled out of the country with creditors chasing it and Robin Loh had become disenchanted with the drilling industry and wanted out. Initially Clyde Stephens had seemingly reached an agreement for Foramer, a main competitor, to buy the company but Robin was not impressed with the offer and instructed Clyde to look at other options. Unocal had already suggested to Clyde that he should approach Smedvig in Norway, an ambitious contractor looking to expand, and a deal was struck very quickly. Although some of Smedvig’s operations people were not impressed with these “simple drilling machines” Smedvig-Robray turned into one of Smedvig’s best and most profitable purchases.
Meanwhile Robray narrowly escaped a tragedy in 1989. Typhoon Gay struck the Gulf of Thailand where it capsized the Unocal owned and Great Eastern operated drillship Seacrest with the loss of 97 lives. The T-4 and T-7 also were operating in the Gulf at the time. The T-7 was hit first, losing 7 of its 8 anchor lines and only hanging on, with the help of a workboat, from either crashing into the platform or heading into the unknown. T-4 was hit next and was not so fortunate, losing all 8 anchor lines and took off under wind and wave power heading towards Cambodia, leaving the drilling crew abandoned on the platform. The rig’s main crane, a 150 ton Favco, was ripped off the deck by the force of the wind and lost overboard and although a workboat was gamely trying to keep up, the rig was out of control and in danger of sinking through water pouring into the hole in the deck where the crane had been.
The Senior Pusher, Axel Lutz, is credited with saving the rig by filling the hole in the deck with mattresses and putting out sea anchors to slow the rig down. Meanwhile the drilling crew still on the platform had to survive a day of no food and water, wondering if they would ever see their colleagues on the rig again. Eventually the rig was collared by the workboat and returned to Songhla and the drilling crew rescued but the Seacrest, hit after the other two, was not so fortunate. Robray had been lucky.
With the North Sea market flat Smedvig had Robray market their big North Sea semis into Asia Pacific, with some success. Both the West Delta and the West Alpha mobilized into the region for charters in Indonesia, Vietnam and China. They were quickly yanked back to Norway when the North Sea market improved but had helped Robray gain more exposure in the region outside of the tender sector.
Smedvig were always looking for expansion. Owner Peter Smedvig’s aim was to be one of the top three biggest drilling contractors in the world and they looked to increase their already dominant share in the tender market by buying or building more rigs. Robray had always failed to penetrate Brunei, a Shell stronghold and then dominated by Petrodrill as Shell’s favoured contractor. Smedvig acquired Petrodrill thus acquiring the Tiga Kali, a non-self-erecting barge which became the T-8 and the Pelaut, built in 1994, the first ever semi-tender assist rig that was the brain child of Petrodrill owner Foster Manning. Apart from now gaining entry into Brunei, Smedvig then financed Robray to develop the semi-tender concept by building a second improved unit, West Menang, in 1999 which also went to work for Shell. Since then six more semi-tenders have been built by the company in its various iterations and the concept has been repeated by the likes of Atlantica, PV Drilling and Energy Drilling, the latter company basically a Robray Mark II.
When Clyde Stephens moved on, ex Smedvig CEO Staale Roed took over and become an enthusiastic exponent of the tender market, so much so that years later, after he left Smedvig, he became involved with Energy Drilling where he joined many ex-Robray colleagues.
The end for Robray came in 2006 when Seadrill acquired Smedvig and the Robray name disappeared forever. Seadrill later sold most of its tender rig division to Malaysian company SapuraKencana in 2013.
But Robray lives on through the many close knit ex-Robray personnel still with SapuraKencana and with Energy Drilling. As part of the Robray “family” we all were fiercely protective of the tender market and as was always said “Once a tender hand always a tender hand”. It was quite a ride. RIP 1974-2006.
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