Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) through its subsidiaries Caspian Rigbuilders BV (an affiliated company of Keppel FELS) and Caspian Shipyard Company (CSC), has secured a contract from Caspian Drilling Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), to build a semisubmersible drilling rig worth about US$800 million, which includes owner-furnished equipment.
Scheduled for delivery in 4Q 2016, the rig will be built to Keppel FELS' proprietary DSSTM 38M design, which has been customized for the Caspian Sea's harsh environment condition.
The DSSTM 38M is designed for a drilling depth of up to 40,000ft and for operations in 1000m water depth. To meet the customer's requirements, it has been outfitted to include an 800m self-contained, eight-point mooring system, designed to meet high wind speeds in the harsh Caspian environment. The pontoons have been designed for the rig to transit in shallow-draft channels of less than seven meters depth.
Keppel's yard in Azerbaijan, CSC, will carry out the fabrication, integration, testing, and commissioning of the rig while its joint-venture yard with SOCAR, Baku Shipyard LLC, will undertake part of the pontoons and columns fabrication. Keppel FELS will provide engineering, procurement and technical support.
Jointly developed and owned by Keppel's Deepwater Technology Group and Marine Structure Consultants, the DSSTM 38M design is an enhanced design of the successful DSSTM 38 rigs that are operating in Brazil.
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