Seadrill takes delivery of semisub West Aquarius

Offshore staff

HOUSTON -- Seadrill has taken delivery of the new deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig West Aquarius from the DSME shipyard in South Korea.

The unit will leave Korean waters in a few days after completing some general mobilization activities, en route to its first drilling assignment in Indonesia. Start-up of operations is expected mid-February. The rig has a four-year contract with ExxonMobil for worldwide exploration activities.

West Aquarius is a sixth generation, high specification, deepwater, semisubmersible drilling unit. It can run parallel drilling operations and is designed with a dynamic positioning system and a water depth capacity up to 3,000 m (9,843 ft).

01/16/2009