The steel cutting ceremony for the first ultra-deepwater drilling unit ordered by Frigstad Deepwater Ltd. from the CIMC Raffles yard at Haiyang in Shandong province, China has taken place.

The 7th generation drilling units ordered by Frigstad Deepwater is of the Frigstad D90™ design, developed by Frigstad Engineering and tailor made for exploration and development drilling in ultra-deep waters. The rigs will be capable of operating in water depths up to 3,658 m (12,000 ft) and drilling to a total depth of 18,288 m (60,000 ft).

The units will be outfitted with a DP3 dynamic positioning system, full dual activity hydraulic drilling package with 2 x 1,400 sT hoisting capacity and 2 x seven ram BOPs.

Frigstad has, through its subsidiaries, also entered into turnkey construction contracts for the delivery of two ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling units from CIMC Raffles, with options for another four units. The first two drilling units are scheduled for delivery at the end of Q4-2015 and Q2- 2016 respectively, with the total project cost put at approximately US $1.3 billion, exclusive of financing cost. The construction, marketing and operation of the rigs will be managed by Frigstad Offshore.