Offshore staff

SINGAPORE -- Jurong Shipyard has secured a repeat order to build a $524-million deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig for PetroMena AS subsidiary PetroRig III Pte. Ltd. This is the third newbuild deepwater semi the owner has placed with the Jurong Shipyard.

Construction will begin immediately, with delivery scheduled for 1Q 2010.

The 6th generation ultra deepwater rig, capable of operating in 3,000 m (9,842 ft) water depth in a harsh environment, will be built based on the Friede & Goldman Ex-D design. Engineered for stability and versatility with operational displacement of 43,400 metric tons (47,840 tons) at 17 m (56 ft) draft and 46,750 metric tons (51,533 tons) at 20 m (66 ft) draft, the semi also is suitable for operations in most of the world's known challenging deepwater arena.

The new rig will have specifications identical to the two other deepwater semisubmersible drilling units, secured in October 2005 and March 2006, currently under construction in the Jurong Shipyard. The two semis under construction are scheduled for delivery in 2Q and 3Q 2009.

1/26/2007