Noble Corporation has signed a double drillship deal valued at US $1.3 Bn that will see operator Plains E&P Company use two of its newbuild units under construction in South Korea for deepwater drilling in the US Gulf.

The contractor has entered into two 3-year term drilling contracts with Plains for the Noble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden, two new ultra-deepwater drillships being built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) shipyard in Ulsan. The drillships, being constructed on a fixed price basis, are expected to be used for operations primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, said Noble.

The Noble Sam Croft is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2014, with the Noble Tom Madden to follow in the second half of 2014. The contracts are expected to start following mobilisation to the GoM and customer acceptance.

Revenues to be generated over the 3-year terms are expected to total approximately $693m per rig, including mobilisation fees, representing in excess of $1.3 Bn in total potential backlog. With the award of contracts for these two units, all four ultra-deep drillships under construction for Noble at HHI are now under contract.

The Noble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden are two of the four drillships being constructed by HHI. All four are based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design, capable of operations in water depths of up to 3,658 m (12,000 ft) and offering a variable deck load of 20,000 metric tons. The two latest contracted units will be fully equipped to operate in up to 3,048 m (10,000 ft) of water while offering DP-3 station keeping, two complete six-ram BOP systems, multiple parallel activity features that improve overall well construction efficiencies and accommodation for up to 210 personnel.

Both rigs also will also be equipped with 165-ton heave compensated construction cranes to facilitate deployment of subsea production equipment, providing another level of efficiency during field development programs, said Noble.

Offshore