By Lawrence Yong
SapuraKencana Drilling (SKD), a subsidiary of SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, has added two new drilling tender rigs to its fleet, both already rented out for use for oil exploration in Thailand and Equatorial Guinea.
One tender rig named T-17 was built at the Cosco Shipyard in Nantong, China and a semi- submersible tender rig Esperanza was built by Keppel FELS in Singapore.
“These two new build rigs will positively impact the overall SKD fleet age profile and extend the company’s drilling capabilities and revenues even further,” the company said in a press release.
T-17 will be mobilised to work in the Gulf of Thailand with long-time SKD client PTTEP of Thailand as replacement for an older vessel, the T-3. Esperanza will go to work for Hess Corp in Equatorial Guinea, it said.
Both tender rigs were part of the deal that SAKP made when it acquired the tender rig business of Norway’s Seadrill last month for US$2.825 billion (RM8.5 billion).
SAKP’s enlarged tender rig business post-acquisition will comprise of 21 rigs in total, 13 are tender barges and eight are semi-tenders. SAKP had previously said that of the 21 rigs, five were under construction with delivery dates in 2013-2014 and would require further capital expenditure of US$344 million (RM1.03 billion)
In addition, SAKP would also manage three rigs for Seadrill, bringing its total tender rigs fleet to about 24, which is just over half the world’s tender rig supply.
SAKP’s share price has rallied by 25% in May and trading closed at RM4.10 on Bursa Malaysia Tuesday, up 5% over the day before.
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