Transocean awards drilling rig contracts

Transocean Ltd announced that a company subsidiary has awarded contracts to Keppel FELS Ltd’s shipyard in Singapore, for the construction of five Super B 400 Bigfoot Class jackup drilling rigs.

The first rig is due for delivery from the shipyard in Q1 2016, with the remaining four to be delivered at approximately four-month intervals from then on. The total cost of the five rigs is estimated at under US$ 1.2 billion, and includes the shipyard contracts, project management, equipment, capital spares and inventory and associated operational costs.

In addition to the basic agreement, each contract includes an option to order an additional jackup for the same design and specifications on similar terms. The first option must be carried out within a year, while the remaining four options should be exercised within consecutive four-month intervals.

The jackups will be capable of operating in water depths up to 400 ft and constructing wells up to 35 000 ft. The rigs will have Keppel FELS' latest proprietary design and will incorporate advanced offshore drilling technology. Moreover, the rigs will be configured with the following Transocean features to improve performance and deliver wells more efficiently:

• Offline tubular handling capabilities.
• Superior jacking and preload capabilities.
• A flexible mud system.
• Simultaneous operations support.

"Continuing our growth in the high-specification jackup business is an important element of our asset strategy," commented Steven L. Newman, CEO of Transocean. "We are very excited about the potential for these rigs given our expectation for continued customer demand for assets of this capability and the outstanding operating performance of the four new high-specification jackups we have recently placed into service."

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/13112013/drilling_rig_contracts_awarded_403/