Keppel Offshore & Marine Wins $460 Million in Shipyard Construction Projects

In the past 24 hours, Singapore-based shipbuilder Keppel Offshore & Marine has added $460 million to their backlog with 5 new projects.

The orders consist of three contracts signed today from Star Drilling, Ensco, and Diamond Offshore as well as orders yesterday from a MODEC and Toyo Offshore joint venture, and SBM Offshore.

The trio of contracts signed today consist of the construction of a KFELS B Class jackup rig for Star Drilling, the upgrading of the semisubmersible ENSCO 5006 for Ensco, and the upgrading of the semisubmersible Ocean Patriot for Diamond Offshore.

Keppel FELS’ Managing Director, Mr Wong Kok Seng, notes that this will be the third KFELS B-Class jack-up rig built for Star Drilling, a company owned by the India-based Jindal Group.

Jindal’s new jackup has been designed to operate in water depths of up to 350 feet for deployment in offshore India and will have a drilling depth capability of 30,000 feet. Delivery is scheduled for 4Q 2014.

“India is enlarging its sphere in the global oil and gas industry and pushing to reduce its dependence on oil imports,” notes Mr Raghav Jindal, Managing Director of Jindal, “These factors present tremendous opportunities for exploration and production activities and Jindal is well positioned with high specification rigs to meet this demand. In particular, this new rig order signals our intention to enhance our presence in the sector.”

For the contract with Ensco, Keppel FELS’ major workscope on the ENSCO 5006 includes upgrading of the living quarters, and other contract-specific upgrades for operating in Australia on the INPEX Ichthys Project.

The vessel is expected to arrive at the yard in 1Q 2014 with redelivery in 2Q 2014, after which it will be chartered to INPEX for work in Australia.

Keppel FELS’ contract with Diamond Offshore consists of the fabrication and installation of four 24-foot diameter stability columns on the semisubmersible Ocean Patriot, as well as new lower hull inboard pontoon sponsons and an upgrade to the living quarters.  Work is expected to commence in June 2013 with redelivery at end 2013. When completed, the semisubmersible will be chartered to Shell for work at the Fram field in the UK North Sea.

Yesterday, Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd’s subsidiaries, Keppel FELS Brasil and Keppel Shipyard, secured a pair of contracts worth S$200 million (USD $161 million).

Keppel FELS Brasil’s contract is with MODEC and Toyo Offshore Production Systems Pte Ltd (MTOPS), a joint-venture company between MODEC, Inc. and Toyo Engineering Corporation (TOYO), to integrate the topside modules of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit. This project will be carried out at BrasFELS, Keppel FELS Brasil’s yard in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In Singapore, Keppel Shipyard has been engaged by SBM Offshore N.V. to fabricate an internal turret for a newbuild FPSO, which will be installed in the Ichthys Field offshore Western Australia.

Mr Tong Chong Heong, Chief Executive Officer of Keppel O&M, shared, “We are pleased to be selected by our customers for repeat projects as these are strong affirmations of the quality of our services. BrasFELS and MTOPS’ first FPSO project was delivered safely and 19 days ahead of schedule; the second project is underway and on track for delivery in 2Q 2014. Keppel Shipyard has collaborated with SBM Offshore on some 17 major conversion and fabrication projects.”

The FPSO, a project by MODEC and its partner Schahin Group, has been chartered for operations offshore Brazil for 20 years. Integration works for the FPSO will take place from 3Q 2014 to 3Q 2015. The completed unit will have a production capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of 1,600,000 barrels of oil.

Meanwhile, Keppel Shipyard’s work on the 6,800-tonne Ichthys FPSO turret is scheduled to complete by Q3 2014.

The Ichthys FPSO turret forms a part of the Ichthys LNG Project, which is a joint venture between the field operator INPEX group companies, TOTAL group companies and other participants.

The Ichthys LNG Project is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 1.6 million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) per annum, along with approximately 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak. Gas from the Ichthys Field will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and raw liquids, including condensate, before being exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889km pipeline.

Keppel Shipyard’s ongoing projects for SBM Offshore are the conversion of FPSO OSX-2 for Brazil as well as modification and upgrading of FPSO N’Goma for Angola. SBM Offshore is also working with Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd on the newbuilding of a multi-purpose dive support construction vessel.