Drilling contract awarded to Frigstad Shekou drilling rig

A drilling contract has been awarded to the Frigstad Shekou, which is the first of two ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rigs ordered by Frigstad Deepwater in December 2012. The Frigstad Shekou is currently under construction and scheduled for delivery towards the end of the year. The contract which consists of a series of wells in deepwater is set to commence towards the end of Q1 2017 in the South China Sea for an entity of China National Petroleum Company as client.

The rigs under construction are of the Frigstad D90 design, developed by Frigstad Engineering, and the result of further advancement of this design since the very first Frigstad D90 rig design was delivered in 2011. They will be amongst the largest, most powerful and efficient ultra-deepwater drilling rigs ever built. The construction supervision and marketing as well as subsequent operation of the rigs is being managed by Frigstad Offshore. The construction of the second rig, the Frigstad Kristiansand, is scheduled to complete around mid 2017.

“Today’s drilling market is extremely difficult and we are grateful to be part of a very strong team,” Simen Skaare Eriksen, CEO of Frigstad Offshore, said “We believe the right rig has been chosen for the job and we look forward to embarking on this work for our customer together with our partners at CIMC.”