Only three drilling rigs ordered worldwide so far in 2015

Speaking at its half-year results briefing on Thursday, Keppel Corp ceo Loh Chin Hua said that there were “only three rigs ordered this year”.

Loh said the orders consisted of “one in a closed market in the Middle East” and two placed in China by a related party.

In April Lamprell bagged the year’s first jack-up rig order from National Drilling Company (NDC) Abu Dhabi. In June CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Company won an order to build a pair of jack-up drilling rigs for Alliance Offshore Drilling (AOD), subsidiary of TSC Group.

Year-to-date Keppel Offshore & Marine has secured SGD1.5bn ($1.09bn) in new orders the lion’s share of which comes from the $684m FLNG conversion order from Golar LNG at Keppel Shipyard.

Keppel Offshore & Marine’s net orderbook stands at SGD11bn and the shipyard will deliver 15 jack-up rig newbuilds this year.

First half revenues for offshore and marine fell 12% on the previous year to SGD3.5bn, while net profit was down 25% at SGD376m.