Vantage Drilling has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd to construct an ultra-deepwater drillship. Vantage said it plans to name the drillship Tungsten Explorer.
The agreement is a fixed price turnkey contract for the construction of the drillship with a scheduled delivery date of May 31, 2013. The cost of the Tungsten Explorer, including all project management, commissioning, spares, pre-delivery crew costs and inventory is estimated to be approximately $580 to $590 million. Vantage has also obtained a fixed price option for the purchase of an additional drillship.
Tungsten Explorer will be constructed at DSME’s shipyard in Okpo, Korea, and will be capable of operating in water depths up to 12,000 feet, with a total vertical drilling depth capacity of 40,000 feet. The hull design has a variable deck load of 20,000 tons and measures 781 feet long by 137 feet wide. The drillship will be equipped with the most technically advanced features in the drilling industry including DP3 dynamic positioning system, 1250 short ton hook load drilling package, a 9000 hp drawworks, as well as offline pipe handling and trip saver system. The drillship will have accommodations for 200 personnel.
Paul Bragg, the Company’s Chairman and CEO, commented, “The addition of Tungsten Explorer to our fleet is an exciting development. While this will be our second Company-owned unit to be constructed at DSME, it will be our fifth drillship project undertaken there, inclusive of our three ongoing construction oversight projects. Our strong relationship with the DSME management has allowed us to achieve exceptional project terms — a) one of the lowest cost construction contracts of this kind, (b) one of the earliest deliveries of the recent order cycle — just 24 months away, and (c) one of the highest specification ultra-deepwater units yet to be built.
Vantage Drilling, a Cayman Islands exempted company, is an offshore drilling contractor, with an owned fleet of four Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 ultra-premium jackup drilling rigs and one ultra-deepwater drillship, the Platinum Explorer.
Via Vantage Drilling
Photo: Vantage Drilling’s ultra-deepwater drillship Platinum Explorer. Copyright © 2010, Vantage Drilling Company, Inc.
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