Larsen Oil and Gas Ltd. gets contract for semi

Offshore staff

BERGEN, Norway -- Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. has signed a 5-yr drilling contract with Larsen Oil and Gas Ltd. of Aberdeen Scotland for the newbuild deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig PetroRig 2, rated for 2,400 m (7,874 ft) water depth.

Operations are scheduled to start in Brazil by December 2009. The rig is owned by PetroMENA AS and is being built at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore.

The award of this contract for PetroRig 2 gives Larsen and PetroMENA the opportunity to declare the third option to build a similar deepwater semisubmersible at the Jurong yard with delivery in 1Q 2010.

Another Larsen rig,PetroRig 1, rated for 3,000 m (9,842 ft) water depth, owned by PetroMENA AS and also under construction at Jurong Shipyard, has been contracted by Petrobras America to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to the two semisubmersibles, there are two heavy-duty jackups under construction at Jurong shipyard, owned by PetroJack ASA and managed by Larsen Oil & Gas. Delivery of the jackups, which will be capable of drilling in 114 m (375 ft) water depth, is scheduled for 2008.

1/3/2007