Shell to Get Four New Ultra-Deepwater Drill Ships
First ship in $3B contract scheduled for mid-2015 from Daewoo Shipbuilding. Announcement follows trend of using ever more complex machinery and equipment to access ever deeper reservoirs. In a sign of the times, Atwood Oceanics orders third ship from Daewoo.
Transocean Ltd. announced on Sept 28 the award by Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) of 10-year contracts for four newbuild dynamically positioned ultra-deepwater drillships. Shipyard delivery for the first drillship is scheduled for mid-2015. The remaining three drillships are expected to be delivered from the shipyard at approximately six-month intervals thereafter, according to a press release. The aggregate capital investment for the four newbuild rigs is an estimated $3.0 billion while the total contract is estimated at $7.6 billion.
According to Transocean, all four drillships have advanced capabilities: each is designed to operate in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and drill wells to 40,000 feet. They will include Transocean's dual-activity drilling technology, a variable deckload capacity of 23,000 metric tons and feature enhanced well completion capabilities. In addition, each newbuild rig will be outfitted with two 15,000 psi blowout preventers (BOPs.)The four newbuild drillships will be able to accommodate a future upgrade to a 20,000 psi BOP, when it becomes available.
The newbuild rigs will be constructed at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. facility at Okpo, South Korea, where Transocean's five Enhanced Enterprise-Class rigs were built and where the company currently has two other ultra-deepwater drillships under construction. Construction on the first drillship is expected to commence during the fourth quarter of 2013.
In related news for the shipyard, Atwood Oceanics announced on Sept 27 that one of its subsidiaries had entered into a turnkey construction contract with Daewoo Shipbuilding to construct a third ultra-deepwater drillship, to be named the Atwood Admiral. The Atwood Admiral is expected to be delivered by March 31, 2015 at a total cost of approximately $635 million.
The design of the Atwood Admiral will be identical to the previously ordered Atwood Advantage and Atwood Achiever—all three are DP-3 dynamically-positioned, dual derrick ultra-deepwater drillships rated to operate in water depths up to 12,000 feet and drill to a depth of up to 40,000 feet. The Atwood Admiral will also offer two seven-ram BOPs, three 100-ton knuckle boom cranes, a 165-ton active heave “tree-running” knuckle boom crane, and accommodations for up to 200 persons.