Noble Corporation has placed an order worth $1.2billion with Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea, for the construction of two ultra-deepwater drillships.
It increases the company’s number of floating drilling units to 26.
Noble has also negotiated a fixed-price option for a further pair, which would bring the order to $2.4billion.
The actual price tag for each vessel is $605million, with delivery of the first pair of vessels scheduled for Q2 and Q3 2013, respectively.
The commitment deadline for the option units is May this year, with delivery of both in 2014. The rigs are based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design, and are designed for operations in water depths to 3,657m (12,000ft), although Noble says either may be outfitted for less, depending on specific contract requirements.
They will have DP3 station-keeping abilities, the ability to handle two complete BOP (blow-out preventer) systems, a heave compensated construction crane to facilitate deployment of subsea production equipment and accommodation for up to 200 personnel.
The rigs will also feature a number of other operational enhancements beyond the shipyard’s base specifications.
The company has made this commitment on the back of an encouraging outlook.
“We believe the fundamentals of the global ultra-deepwater market will continue to be strong in the decade ahead,” said Noble’s chairman, David Williams.
“These units, which are capable of meeting the industry’s most-stringent operating requirements, further support our continued commitment to increasing the technological and operational capabilities of our fleet.”
It helps that one of the sisters will start out with a fat, five-and-a-half year contract from Shell.
The companies have agreed to model the drilling contract terms and conditions on the recently announced Noble Globetrotter II contract, whereby a unit of at least the Noble Globetrotter II’s capabilities would receive a base operating dayrate of $410,000, and be eligible for a 15% performance bonus.
Noble has also announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Petrobras regarding operations in Brazil.
Under its terms, Noble would substitute the dynamically positioned deepwater drillship Noble Phoenix, currently under contract with Shell in south-east Asia, for the dynamically positioned drillship Noble Muravlenko.
The Noble Muravlenko is currently operating under a six-year contract with Petrobras at a base day rate of $290,000, which is set to end in 2015.
After the substitution, the Noble Phoenix would operate under the same terms.
According to Noble, the swap of the Phoenix for the Muravlenko is expected to address “certain reliability issues” faced by the Muravlenko.