Clearwater Orders Two Keppel Jack-Ups

Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) has secured a contract from an affiliate of Clearwater Capital Partners (Clearwater) to build a pair of premium KFELS B Class jack-up rigs.

The total cost of the project is about $440 million, which also includes owner furnished equipment and project management fees. The rigs are scheduled to be completed in 4Q 2015 and 1Q 2016.

Wong Kok Seng, Managing Director (Offshore) of Keppel O&M and Managing Director of Keppel FELS said, “We are glad to have repeat customer Clearwater reaffirm their confidence in our capabilities and rig design. With 49 KFELS B Class/Super B Class jackup rigs already delivered and 17 on order, it is a clear indication of the strength of the design with oil companies and drilling operators. We look forward to providing Clearwater with premium, safe and cost-efficient rigs that are in demand in the market.

“Having delivered 16 rigs already this year, Keppel FELS has demonstrated its strong project execution capabilities in completing all its projects safely, ahead or on time and within budget. In addition, with the rigs being built to repeat designs, we are able to reap efficiencies by replicating the process to speed up the work.”

The KFELS B Class jackup rig is able to operate in water depths of up to 400 feet, drill to 30,000 feet deep and equipped with offline standbuilding capability. Developed by Keppel’s technology arm, Offshore Technology Development, the KFELS B Class jackup design provides maximum uptime with reduced emissions and discharges.

Dr Yao Chye Chiang, Singapore-based Chief Operating Officer of Clearwater said, “We continue to see strong demand for new high specification jackup rigs as the industry continues its rig replacement trend. Even with the number of new jack-ups entering the market this year, more than half the existing rigs will be older than 30 years by 2015.

 “The KFELS B Class is a proven design which has been the rig of choice for leading oil companies in the industry. This is an opportune time for us to scale up with two rigs of this design and we are confident in getting a good return on our investment. As the world’s leading rig builder with a strong track record for delivering high-quality rigs on time and on budget, Keppel FELS is the ideal shipyard partner for us.”