Ocean Rig UDW Inc. has sealed a four-well contract offshore West Africa for its Eirik Raude semisubmersible unit worth around US $217m.

The contractor entered into definitive documentation for the Eirik Raude drilling rig with an undisclosed “major oil company”, it said. The contract is for a firm four-well program plus options, with an estimated duration of about 12 months.

The estimated backlog of about $217m includes mobilisation and demobilisation, it added. The rig is scheduled to start the contract in the second half of this year, in direct continuation of its previous contract offshore Ireland.

Ocean Rig also confirmed that it has received firm commitments from lenders for a $1.35 Bn syndicated secured term loan to partially finance the construction costs of its Ocean Rig Mylos, Ocean Rig Skyros and Ocean Rig Athena newbuilds. This facility has a 5-year term, and approximately an 11-year repayment profile. The facility bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin. Lead banks are DNB Bank and Nordea Bank supported by several other commercial lenders.

Also participating in this financing are export credit agencies Garanti-Instituttet for Eksportkreditt (GIEK), Export Credit Norway and the Import-Export Bank of Korea (KEXIM). This agreement is subject to definitive documentation which it expects to complete in the first quarter of this year.