Songa Offshore, an offshore drilling contractor, on Monday took delivery of the Songa Endurance rig from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea.
The rig will shortly depart South Korea en route to Norway for start of an eight-year drilling contract with Statoil, with first assignment on the Troll field located in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Songa says that the voyage to Norway will take place with tow-assist and the rig will arrive with all third party equipment installed and ready for final acceptance testing. The beginning of drilling operations is expected to take place around year-end.
The Songa Endurance is a sixth generation, high specification, harsh environment, midwater rig designed for year around drilling, completion, testing and intervention operations in water depths up to 500 meters.
The rig is certified DP3 and is equipped with a drill-floor and an efficient layout with improved safety and working environment features. Songa Endurance is the second rig in a series of four Category D rigs specifically built for and contracted to Statoil. Songa’s first CAT D rig, the Songa Equinox , was delivered in June 2015.