Petrovietnam Drilling & Well Service Corporation, widely known as PV Drilling, has grown from a Vietnamese drilling services initiative into a regional offshore drilling contractor with operations across Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and other markets. Established in 2001 to build domestic capability in drilling and well technical services, the company now combines jack-up drilling, tender-assist operations, technical well services, manpower, inspection, maintenance and training within a broader One PVD service chain.
For a drilling contractor, safety is not a supporting function; it is part of the service itself. PV Drilling's own HSEQ materials describe a management system embedded before its first owned rigs entered service, with systems periodically certified and aligned to international standards including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. The company's public safety story is strongest where it connects leadership commitment, rig-level discipline, practical reporting tools and repeated safe-operation milestones.
Dropped-object prevention has an unusually clear place in that story. PV Drilling sponsored the first DROPS Asia forum in Vietnam, held in Ho Chi Minh City in June 2011, bringing more than 70 Vietnamese oil and gas participants together for a focused introduction to dropped-object prevention. At that forum, PV Drilling's HSE leadership described dropped objects as a major safety concern on drilling rigs and shared early lessons from the company's own fleet. The company's presentation explained that PV Drilling had implemented a DROPS policy from the delivery of its first rig, translated reliable securing and awareness materials into Vietnamese, and used internal communication channels to keep crews DROPS aware.
That early engagement matters because PV Drilling's work environment is exactly the kind of high-potential setting DROPS was built to support. Jack-up rigs are dense, multi-level worksites: derricks, monkey boards, crown areas, travelling equipment, cranes, cantilevers, BOP handling systems, jacking houses, machinery spaces and accommodation structures all create possible interfaces between height, equipment, vibration, weather and people. In that environment, a small unsecured fixture, tool or fitting can become a high-consequence hazard.
PV Drilling's published DROPS prevention material shows a mature, rig-specific approach. Facilities are divided into zones; each potential dropped object is identified and logged with its description, location and method of retention; photographs are used as visual references for correct securing; unnecessary items at height are removed; and inspection frequencies can be increased after jarring, rough drilling, severe weather or other higher-risk conditions. The derrick is treated as its own managed environment, divided into zones from the lower substructure and BOP deck through the crown and travelling equipment. Temporary tools and equipment taken into the derrick are logged and accounted for at job completion.
The same material points to practical controls that align closely with DROPS recommended practice: safety cables, locking nuts, drilled bolts with cotter keys, lock-wire, thread-locking compound, photo-based inspection references, area audits, independent third-party DROPS inspections, preventive maintenance inspections, and in-house DROPS awareness training tailored to each rig. These are not glamorous controls, but they are the controls that make daily offshore work safer: visible ownership, repeatable inspection, strong housekeeping and disciplined close-out.
PV Drilling's more recent HSEQ communications suggest that this safety culture remains active across the group. The company has reported continued rig activity across domestic and international markets, while highlighting inspection, supervision, training, awareness and risk management as continuing priorities. Its published newsletters have also described dropped-object prevention campaign activity, including training, safety observation cards, workplace surveys and recognition for active participation.
This combination of operational scale and prevention discipline is important for Southeast Asian offshore drilling. Regional campaigns can involve frequent rig moves, client interfaces, multilingual crews, harsh marine exposure, lifting operations, intense drilling vibration and weather windows that compress work schedules. Dropped-object prevention helps protect people first, but it also supports equipment integrity, schedule reliability, client confidence and environmental protection. A dropped object can injure a person, damage critical equipment, interrupt a well program or compromise a work area that depends on precise coordination between drilling, marine, lifting and service teams.
PV Drilling's contribution to the DROPS community is therefore both practical and regional. Its 2011 hosting of the Vietnam DROPS Asia forum helped introduce dropped-object prevention more broadly to the Vietnamese oil and gas sector. Its internal DROPS materials show how global guidance can be translated into rig-zone plans, Vietnamese-language awareness and crew-level routines. Its ongoing HSEQ communications show a company continuing to invest in audits, training, reporting and operational discipline as it expands across Southeast Asia and beyond.
For DROPS Forum members, PV Drilling is a valuable example of how dropped-object prevention becomes meaningful when it is owned by operations, not treated as a campaign alone. The company's public record shows long-standing attention to HSEQ systems, a willingness to share lessons with industry peers, and a practical understanding that offshore drilling safety depends on many small controls being done well, repeatedly, in real working conditions.