Offshore staff
ZUG, Switzerland – Noble Corp. has signed three-year contracts worth $1.3 billion with Plains Exploration & Production for a pair of newbuild ultra-deepwater drillships scheduled for delivery next year.
TheNoble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden drillships, under construction at Hyundai Heavy induistries shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, will be deployed to the Gulf of Mexico in 2Q 2014 and 2H 2014, respectively. Noble Corp. said the contracts will generate approximately $693 million per rig.
The company has a total of four drillships based on the Hyundai Gusto P10000 design under construction in South Korea. TheNoble Don Taylor is completing sea trials and will begin a long-term contract with Shell in October. Sister ship Noble Bob Douglas has been signed to Anadarko Petroleum for three years and will be delivered before the end of 2013.
All the drillships are capable of operation in 12,000-ft (3,658-m) water depths.
04/18/2013