The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the US Coast Guard on Monday completed an inspection of the drilling rig that Repsol will use to spud a deepwater well off the coast of Cuba in the coming months, the agencies said.
Personnel from the two agencies boarded the Chinese-made Scarabeo 9 on Monday off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. The inspection was done at the invitation of the Spanish firm Repsol, which will be the first company to use the rig to explore in Cuba's deepwater. Other companies are scheduled to use the same rig to spud deepwater wells in Cuban waters after Repsol.
The inspectors reviewed vessel construction, drilling equipment and safety systems, the agencies said in a joint statement. The safety equipment inspected includes lifesaving and firefighting equipment, emergency generators and dynamic positioning systems.
The inspection also included the blowout preventer on the rig.
The inspectors "found the vessel to generally comply with existing international and US standards by which Repsol has pledged to abide," the statement read.
"The review is consistent with US efforts to minimize the possibility of a major oil spill, which would hurt US economic and environmental interests," the statement read.
The inspection does not constitute a formal approval of the rig's safety systems because the US has no regulatory authority over the rig or its intended operation in Cuban waters.
