Offshore staff

SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Keppel FELS Ltd. has signed a $392-million contract to build a KFELS N Class jackup rig for ProdJack AS, a member of the Skeie Group.

The rig, a repeat order, is scheduled for delivery in 3Q 2010.

"The KFELS N Class order is reflective of a requirement for a high-end drilling rig with capabilities to address technical issues in the exploration and development of fields in very harsh environments such as the North Sea," says Choo Chiau Beng, chairman and CEO of parent company Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd.

Bjarne Skeie, chairman of the Skeie Group, says the rig is being built to help meet the increasing demand for more sophisticated and innovative rigs to meet new challenges in the development of oil and gas fields in the North Sea region.

"The KFELS N Class jackup rig, with its superior specifications, is highly capable of meeting these challenges while setting a new benchmark for operations in the North Sea," Skeie says. "There is a great potential for sustained and stable investment in the region, and the timing is right given the abundant opportunities."

The KFELS N Class was developed by Keppel's R&D arm, Offshore Technology Development, and can undertake drilling and production activities concurrently for exploitation in marginal fields. It is designed to operate in water depths to 131 m (430 ft) and drilling depths to 10,668 m (35,000 ft).

The design is in full compliance with the demanding and technical challenging requirements of rigs operating in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

The KFELS N Class rig will be the largest jackup ever to be built in Singapore and the will be among the world's largest constructed for the North Sea.

2/15/20-07