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Keppel secures $300m in rig contracts

Keppel secures $300m in rig contracts
Singapore: Keppel Fels has won three contracts, amounting to $300m, for repeat customers Star Drilling, Ensco and Diamond Offshore.  

The construction contract with Star Drilling, a Singapore-based company promoted by the companies of DP Jindal Group, will entail a KFELS B class jackup rig, to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2014, and set to operate in water depth of 350 ft off the coast of India, with a drilling depth of 30,000 ft. The order is indicative of new forays into offshore for India, indicates Raghav Jindal, managing director of Star Drilling. "India is enlarging its sphere in the global oil and gas industry and pushing to reduce its dependence on oil imports. 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. The KFELS B Class is a proven design for us as both Discovery  I and Virtue I jackup rigs have been operating successfully without any downtime in offshore India."

Meanwhile, the two further contracts include the upgrading of the Ensco 5006 semi-submersible rig for Ensco, and upgrades for semi-sub Ocean Patriot for Diamond Offshore.

"We are honoured to have returning customers come to us for newbuilds as well as repairs and upgrades,” said Wong Kok Seng, managing director(Offshore) of Keppel O&M and Keppel FELS. “With Jindal, this will be their third KFELS B Class jackup rig. We have to-date delivered ten such rigs to Indian customers and look forward to supporting Jindal and their growth in India's oil and gas market. At the same time, we also have a healthy load of repair and upgrade work and we are grateful that customers like Ensco and Diamond have regularly sent their rigs to us for repairs, upgrades and modifications."