Seadrill receives Letter of Award for new ultra-deepwater semisubmersible

Seadrill has received a Letter of Award from Husky Oil Operations Limited for a five-year contract for the newbuild, harsh-environment semisubmersible West Mira for operations in Canada and Greenland. Total estimated revenue potential for the contract is approximately US $1.18 billion for the five firm years.

The West Mira is currently under construction at the Hyundai Samho Shipyard in South Korea with delivery scheduled for Q4 2014. Upon delivery from the yard, the rig will commence transit to the east coast of Canada. Start-up of operations is expected in Q2 2015. The West Mira is designed for drilling in harsh environments and water depths up to 10,000 ft. The unit will be equipped with dynamic positioning, as well as 12-point mooring capability, potential for two six-ram blowout preventers and 1,000-ton load path capacity.

The West Mira represents one out of 10 semisubmersible rigs in the Seadrill fleet capable of operations in harsh environments, eight of which have been delivered since 2008. Seadrill has another harsh environment newbuild, the West Rigel, of similar design as the West Mira, which will be delivered in Q1 2015 from the Jurong shipyard in Singapore and is currently available for contract.

“The West Mira will be the second rig Seadrill will operate in Eastern Canada. After enjoying a safe and successful drilling campaign with Husky Energy in China with the West Hercules, we are pleased that Husky has chosen to extend that relationship with a contract for a newbuild offshore Eastern Canada,” John Fredriksen, chairman of Seadrill, said.

“The award of a five-year contract with commencement in 2015 is also a clear sign of the present tightness in the harsh-environment/deepwater drilling market,” he continued. “Seadrill currently has several options/proposals to increase the newbuild program within this field further. Based on close discussions with our customers, we also see several additional attractive long-term chartering opportunities. A decision regarding further investment within this segment is likely to be taken shortly and might also include direct investments from North Atlantic Drilling.”