Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS) has secured a US$160 million contract to build a repeat semisubmersible drilling tender (SSDT) for Seadrill Asia Limited (Seadrill Asia).

Scheduled for delivery in first quarter of 2011, the drilling tender will be built to the KFELS SSDT™ 3600E model. The KFELS SSDT™ series is designed by Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited’s (Keppel O&M) R&D arm, the Deepwater Technology Group.

When completed, the latest unit will join Seadrill Asia’s fleet of six other KFELS SSDT™ rigs, built by the Keppel O&M group. Keppel FELS is presently constructing the sixth drilling tender of this fleet, West Berani II, for delivery at end 2009.

Mr Tong Chong Heong, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Keppel O&M said, “Keppel has been working closely with Seadrill Asia, formerly Smedvig, to construct their highly specialised fleet of drilling tenders since 1994.

“The KFELS SSDT™ series of tender rigs have served our customer well and are operating successfully in the Asia Pacific and West Africa regions. We are very pleased that Seadrill Asia has affirmed our enduring partnership with this latest order. We look forward to strongly support them in building a quality fleet.”

The KFELS SSDT™ series is designed to operate in deepwaters of up to 5,000 ft alongside Spars and Tension Leg Platforms.

The latest tender rig for Seadrill Asia will have further enhanced mooring capabilities to suit the demanding requirements of offshore South East Asia. Similar to West Berani II, it will also feature a crane capacity of 250 tonnes, four mud pumps and accommodation for 160 people.

Keppel FELS has also collaborated with Seadrill Asia’s parent company, Seadrill Limited, on four KFELS B Class jackup rigs, which were delivered on time and with good safety records. For the yard’s outstanding performance on these rigs, Seadrill Limited awarded
Keppel FELS with another two repeat jackup contracts just last week.

“The Seadrill group of companies are esteemed customers with whom we want to further entrench our partnership. The steady flow of projects entrusted to us by the group attests to the irreplaceable trust and confidence we established over time between Keppel and Seadrill,” said Mr Tong.