Keppel Awarded Contract for Bully Drillship

Keppel Shipyard Limited was awarded a contract valued at about $100.7m for the integration and completion of a new build Bully drillship. Keppel secured the contract with a company jointly owned by Frontier Drilling and Shell. This is the second drillship of the Bully rig design awarded to Keppel by the same owners. The first Bully drillship was awarded in June 2007 with delivery by fourth quarter 2009.

The new hull will be built in China and is due to arrive at Keppel Shipyard in the first quarter of 2009. The drillship is expected to be delivered by the second quarter of 2010. The Bully drillships are designed to conduct surface BOP (Blow-out Preventer) drilling operations in water depths of up to 12,000 ft. and sub-sea BOP operations in water depths of up to 8,250 ft. as equipped (up to 10,000 ft. capability). The total drilling depth below the drill floor is 40,000 ft. The drillships will also be equipped with ice-class hulls and fitted with Dynamic Positioning (DP-2) capabilities. Keppel Shipyard’s work scope for the Bully 2 includes installation, integration and completion of the owner supplied power generation, thrusters and drilling equipment packages on a new hull. In addition to the Bully drillship contracts with Frontier and Shell, Keppel Shipyard is currently working on the refurbishment and upgrading of drillship Frontier Phoenix (ex – Peregrine II) for Frontier due for delivery in the third quarter 2008.