International offshore drilling contractor Ocean Rig has entered into an estimated $600m contract to build a seventh-generation ultra deepwater drillship at Samsung Heavy Industries.
The new drillship will be a sister ship to the company’s three other drillships – Ocean Rig Skyros, Ocean Rig Athena and Ocean Rig Apollo – currently under construction at Samsung.
The new drillship is scheduled to be delivered in December 2015.
Ocean Rig said it has at no additional consideration a fixed priced option, declarable by November 2013, for a new drillship for delivery in the first quarter of 2016.
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The company is planning to finance the new drillship through a combination of available cash and debt to be secured prior to its delivery.
Ocean Rig chairman and chief executive officer George Economou said the company has taken advantage of its strong balance sheet and its long-term relationship with Samsung to order an additional newbuild drillship at a very attractive price.
"With all of our 2013 newbuild drillships as well as our first 2015 newbuild drillship, the Ocean Rig Apollo, already contracted to investment grade counter-parties, we are setting the stage for moderate growth going forward," Economou said. "We believe that the ultra-deepwater drilling market for high-quality assets will remain strong in the foreseeable future and we are excited about the future employment prospects of our high-quality homogeneous fleet."
Ocean Rig currently owns and operates 11 offshore ultra deepwater drilling units, including two ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rigs and nine ultra deepwater drillships, two of which are scheduled to be delivered during 2013 and another two during 2015.
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