Christmas Comes Early for Keppel

Keppel Corporation’s offshore and marine division announced today that it has secured a contract for the design and construction of a semisubmersible rig based on Keppel’s proprietary DSSTM 38E design.  The contract, which was awarded by Urca Drilling, a subsidiary Sete Brasil, is valued at approximately US$809 million, bringing Keppel’s year-to-date new order total to S$9.8 billion.

The DSSTM 38E design is considered an enhancement of Keppel’s fifth generation deepwater semi-sub rig, the DSSTM 38 and designed to meet the stringent requirements of the deepwater “Golden Triangle” region, comprised of Brazil, Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.

The design is rated to drill to depths of 10,000 meters and operate in waters 3,000 meters in depth. The rig itself is 108 meters in length, with a main deck size of 73 meters by 73 meters.

The DSSTM 38E design also features accommodations for up to 160 crew. It has both vertical and horizontal riser storage. The vessel is designed to stay in position via eight Azimuth thrusters with configurations that comply with the American Bureau of Shipping Dynamic Positioned System (DPS-3) requirements.

The rig will be built at Keppel’s yard in Brazil, Keppel FELS Brazil, and is scheduled for delivery in 4Q 2015.

Keppel has had an extremely successful year in 2011,  The company posted a record third-quarter net profit 33.3% higher from a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations and helped primarily by higher contributions from its property and offshore and marine divisions.  The offshore and marine unit alone rose 38% in the first three quarters of 2011 compared to a year earlier to S$340 million. The unit accounted for 74% of the group’s total profit for the January-September period.

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