Rigdon Marine Launch Signals Revolution in Offshore Marine Service Industry

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — November 28, 2002 — Larry Rigdon’s launch of Rigdon Marine LLC, marks much more than the birth of a new company. It signals nothing less than the dawning of a revolution in the offshore marine service industry and the realization of a lifelong dream for Rigdon.

For most of his 28-year career guiding the operation of boats serving the offshore oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico, tech-savvy Rigdon has envisioned the day when he could lead the marine service business to an unprecedented level of efficiency, performance, safety, and environmental responsibility. The former executive vice president of Tidewater Inc, watched the offshore boat business evolve and adapt to changing conditions in the pursuit of offshore oil. He realized that evolution in the boat business was too slow. What the business needed was a quantum leap revolution to a totally new standard of performance. He could see that it would not happen in the existing framework of the industry.

So Rigdon set up shop on his own to pursue his dream. Now the dream is on the way to becoming reality. Rigdon sought and obtained interim financing from international sources for the venture and announced in the last week of November that he had signed an agreement with Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. inc. - of Mobile, Alabama, to begin construction of ten state-of-the-art vessels to serve the Gulf of Mexico shelf and deepwater production markets.

The technically advanced vessels, designed in conjunction with Guido Perla & Associates of Seattle, Washington, represent a major advance in offshore boat technology. The vessels have been built from the ground up as a completely new design, not an adaptation or mutation of existing designs. They will be the vanguard of a totally new generation of boats that are needed to meet the changing requirements and demands of oil companies for a cost-effective, high specification platform supply vessel for the Gulf of Mexico market. Only a handful of such boats will exist in the entire world at this early stage of the new generation.

The vessels will be diesel-electric driven, with electric motors actually driving the 360 degree azimuthing thrusters. This environmentally friendly mode of technology uses less fuel than conventional direct diesel driven propulsion systems and produces far less pollution.

Each vessel will be equipped with a DP2 level dynamic position capability for superior station keeping, that is, holding the vessel precisely in a given position for delicate and risky maneuvering or docking procedures with offshore oil rigs and other floating equipment. DP2 is the latest generation of dynamic positioning technology, the most advanced equipment available, and its operational capability will be certified by the American Bureau of Shipping.

The vessels are intended to excel in supporting deepwell-drilling operations, and are designed to maintain a speed of 13 knots at loadline (fully loaded condition), up to 30% faster than the 10 to 11 knot capability of existing vessels in the Gulf fleet. This design speed has been verified by tank testing of an 8-foot scale model of the vessel hull.

Two to three knots may not seem like much difference in speed, but in a year of constant running, the difference in the miles traveled and trips completed adds up to a substantial increase in performance that delivers more material faster at less cost.

The 210-foot (64 meter) vessels will provide the liquid mud tank capacity and delivery capabilities typically found only in much larger vessels. The vessels will be equally at home serving shallow water jackup rigs and mating perfectly with the new deepwell rigs just beginning to enter service.

Larry Rigdon’s goal is to have Rigdon Marine certified under the strict, high standards of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, substantially exceeding the minimum ISM (International Safety Management Code) standards.

The design and capabilities of the new Rigdon Marine vessels fit the demanding requirements of developing markets around the globe. Rigdon anticipates that some of the vessels will eventually find service in both domestic and international markets.

Rigdon Marine LLC is a privately held company headquartered in New Orleans and will initially create 160 new jobs for the area. Financing support has been obtained through a cooperation agreement with a major European firm.