Songa Offshore has taken delivery of the Songa Enabler, the last of its string of four new, sixth generation Car D drilling rigs from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea.
The semisubmersible unit is now due to depart South Korea for Norway to start an eight-year drilling contract with Statoil, starting on the Snøhvit field in Q3.
Songa Enabler is the last rig in a series of four Category D rigs specifically built for and contracted to Statoil.
Statoil ordered the Cat D rigs at a time when rig capacity was tight and rig rates high on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and across the North Sea. Now rigs are leaving to seek work elsewhere.
Songa Enabler is a sixth generation, high specification, harsh environment, fully winterized, midwater rig designed for efficient 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 "state-of-the-art" drill-floor and an efficient layout with improved safety and working environment features.
The award for the first two rigs was made in 2011, with delivery originally scheduled for 2014, with firm terms of eight years each and with options that could extend this period to 20 years. The second order for two more was signed in 2012, with delivery originally scheduled for early 2015. However, the yard, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, has suffered “significant delays” and overruns, says Songa.
Blow out preventer related issues on the first two rigs, Songa Equinox and Songa Endurance, also hit Songa's income and more recently Statoil exercised and entitlement too shorten its contract duration on the first two rigs, relative to the delivery delays. Yet, the contract backlog on the four rigs is some still 30.5 years, as of 29 February, excluding options.
Earlier this month, Songa moved to raise US$150 million in cash to help it deliver the fourth rig.
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