Sembcorp Marine Ltd, through Jurong Offshore Pte Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiaries has secured total contracts worth approximately US$4,032 million from Sete Brasil Participacǒes S.A. (Sete Brasil), for the design and construction of five drillships based on Jurong Shipyard’s proprietary Jurong Espadon drillship design.
In addition to the above, Sembcorp Marine had on 6 February 2012 announced that its wholly-owned Brazilian shipyard Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz Ltda secured a US$792.5 million contract for the design and construction of a drillship with Guarapari Drilling B.V., Netherlands, a subsidiary of Sete Brasil.
All six drillships will be built based on the Jurong Espadon design, which represents the next generation of high-specification drillships with advanced capabilities for operational efficiency and ultra-deepwater operations worldwide. Each of the drillships will be equipped with state-of-the-art drilling facilities, a larger deck area, efficient deck arrangement and a large moon pool for enhanced drilling operations as well as DP-3 (Dynamic Positioning Class 3) capabilities and superior motion. The drillship will be capable of operating at 10,000 ft water depth and drilling to depths of 40,000 ft, with accommodation facilities for a crew of 180 personnel.
Scheduled for deliveries between 2Q 2015 to 2Q 2019, the six drillships will be among the first in a series of drillships to be built in Brazil to cater to the oil and gas discoveries in the offshore giant pre-salt fields of the Santos Basin. On delivery, the six drillships will be chartered to Petrobras for 15 years. Three of the drillships will be operated by Odfjell and the other three by Seadrill.
Mr Jose Carlos Ferraz, Chief Executive Officer of Sete Brasil said “We are pleased to sign the contracts for the design and construction of the five additional drillships with the Sembcorp Marine Group. With their established track record working in Brazil, we are confident that the high-specification drillships will be delivered on time and on quality. We are counting on Jurong Shipyard to be a vital partner in making the drillship program a success for our company and our country.”
Mr Wong Weng Sun, President and CEO of Sembcorp Marine said “We are honoured to be awarded this prestigious parcel of five drillships from Sete Brasil. Including the one unit of drillship that was announced earlier, we will be building a total of six drillships for Brazil’s deepwater oil fields. We like to thank Sete Brasil for their continued confidence in our design and capabilities and for selecting us to be a key partner to spearhead Brazil’s drillship building programme. The series of orders will also provide greater impetus for us to accelerate our shipyard building program in Brazil.”
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Sembcorp Marine expects a positive contribution to its earnings from the contracts. However, the contracts are not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share of Sembcorp Marine for the year ending December 31, 2012.
[mappress] Press Release, August 08, 2012