The year 2008 edition of the Rules for Building and Classing Mobile Offshore Drilling Units is
a complete reprint of the 2006 edition, consisting of the seven (7) booklets as shown in Table 1.
The Rules have been reorganized, and a new Part 5 for fire and safety measures and features has
been added. The survey requirements in the former Part 5 are now in Part 6, along with
requirements for surveys during construction and for testing and trials. The cross-reference
table in Table 4 shows the relationship between the 2006 numbering and the 2008 numbering.
The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Conditions of Classification – Offshore Units
and Structures (Part 1) is to reflect the expanded contents of PART 1, as a result of including
consolidated requirements for “Classification” applicable to all types of offshore units,
pipelines, risers, and other offshore structures, as specified in the Foreword to Part 1.
With regard to Part 2, the purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Materials and Welding is
to emphasize the common applicability of the requirements to ABS-classed vessels, other
marine structures and their associated machinery, and thereby make PART 2 more readily a
common “PART” of various ABS Rules and Guides, as appropriate.
The numbering system applied in the Rules is shown in Table 2.
The primary changes from the 2006 edition of the Rules are identified and listed in Table 3.
The effective date of the indicated Rule Changes is 1 January 2008, unless specifically
indicated otherwise.
The effective date of each technical change since 1993 is shown in parenthesis at the end of
the subsection/paragraph titles within the text of each Part. Unless a particular date and
month are shown, the years in parentheses refer to the following effective dates:
(2000) and after 1 January 2000 (and subsequent years) (1996) 9 May 1996
(1999) 12 May 1999 (1995) 15 May 1995
(1998) 13 May 1998 (1994) 9 May 1994
(1997) 19 May 1997 (1993) 11 May 1993
Until the next edition of the Rules for Building and Classing Mobile Offshore Drilling Units
is published, Rule Change Notices and/or Corrigenda, as necessary, will be published on the
ABS website – www. eagle.org – only, and will be available free for downloading. It is not
intended to publish hard copies of future Rule Change Notices and/or Corrigenda to existing
Rules or Guides. The consolidated edition of the Rules for Building and Classing Mobile
Offshore Drilling Units, which includes Rule Change Notices and/or Corrigenda using
different colors for easy recognition will be published on the ABS website only when RCN
and/or Corrigenda are issued.
The listing of CLASSIFICATION SYMBOLS AND NOTATIONS is available from the ABS
website www.eagle.org/rules/downloads.html for download.
ABS 6-2008 history
2012ABS 6-2012 RULES FOR BUILDING AND CLASSING MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS 2012
2011ABS 6 NOTICE 1-2011 RULES FOR CONDITIONS OF CLASSIFICATION – OFFSHORE UNITS AND STRUCTURES 2012
2008ABS 6 NOTICE 1-2008 RULES FOR BUILDING AND CLASSING MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS 2008
2006ABS 6-2006 RULES FOR BUILDING AND CLASSING MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS 2006
2001ABS 6-2001 RULES FOR BUILDING AND CLASSING MOBILE OFFSHORE DRILLING UNITS (Updated July and October 2003@ Notice 1 - January 2002; Notice 2 - September 2002; Corrigenda/Editorials - June 4@ 2001 thru November 3@ 2003; Notice 3 - November 2003; Corrigenda/Editorials
1998ABS 6-1998 Building and Classing Mobile Offshore Drilling Units - Notices and General Information
1997ABS 6-1997 Building and Classing Mobile Offshore Drilling Units - Notices and General Information
1996ABS 6-1996 Notices and General Information for Mobile Offshore Drilling Units