New rig job lands on Seatrium’s table

Singapore-headquartered provider of offshore, marine, and energy solutions Seatrium has emerged as the winner in an international tender from International Maritime Industries (IMI), said to be the largest shipyard in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, for the supply of equipment and license for a jack-up rig destined to work in the Middle East.

After the signing ceremony during the IKTIVA Forum & Exhibition, where Aramco inked 145 contracts and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth $9 billion, the International Maritime Industries, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco, Lamprell, Bahri, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, disclosed an agreement with ARO Drilling to build the Kingdom 3 jack-up rig, which the Saudi yard plans to construct in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

To make this happen, IMI has awarded a jack-up rig contract to Seatrium Offshore Technology, the flagship offshore jack-up designer for Singapore’s Seatrium, for the supply of equipment and license for a LeTourneau Super 116E Class self-elevating drilling unit (SE-MODU), Kingdom 3.

“This milestone marks the historic beginning of new-build construction in IMI since the yard’s opening and underscores the start of an ambitious long-term partnership with IMI to construct offshore jack-ups in the Kingdom. Seatrium provides clients the flexibility of building vessels in its yards or drawing from its suite of jack-up designs to provide rig kits to others to fulfill local content requirements,” explained the Singapore-headquartered player.

Moreover, Seatrium elaborates that the chosen LeTourneau Super 116E Class design is part of the next generation of jack-up designs customized for operational requirements within the MENA region, featuring rigs outfitted with 343 feet (0.1 kilometers) of leg and 1.5 million-pound hook load while utilizing advanced cyber systems. The new job marks the Singapore player’s 44th order for the LeTourneau Super 116 series of jack-ups.

Following the design and construction of the world’s first independent leg jack-up drilling rig in 1955, Seatrium claims to have designed and been involved in building more than half of all jack-up rigs in service and 65% of the jack-ups operating in the Middle East.

“These orders underscore the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision for advanced technology, sustainability, and independence in offshore drilling,” emphasized the company, which recently celebrated the naming ceremony for the Australia-bound FPSO BW Opal at its flagship mega yard, Tuas Boulevard Yard, in Singapore. 

After ARO Drilling and Aramco inked an agreement in 2018, which was expected to enable the construction of 20 jack-up units over ten years, IMI got picked to build the rigs, based on a design developed in collaboration with GustoMSC and Lamprell. The delivery of the first two rigs, originally scheduled for 2022, had to be moved to 2023 because of a delay in the completion of the new shipyard in Saudi Arabia.

The naming ceremony for the Kingdom 1 jack-up rig was held in November 2023 at the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services. The rig was expected to start its maiden eight-year contract with Aramco in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Kingdom 2 jack-up rig’s naming ceremony followed suit in May 2024. Both rigs are based on the LeTourneau 116E design.

ARO has confirmed its intention to build 20 jack-ups over the next decade, but the order for the construction of the third jack-up rig comes after multiple rig owners received temporary suspensions of operations in the Middle East in 2024 for one or more jack-ups in their fleets working for Aramco.