Rowan Companies has exercised an option to build a fourth GustoMSC P10,000 design ultra-deepwater drillship with Hyundai Heavy Industries, with delivery scheduled for March 2015. This will be the company’s fourth ultra-deepwater drillship order, all of the same design. Rowan plans to equip all four drillships with 12,000 ft of riser and a second BOP stack to minimize nonproductive time.
“The recent three-year contract obtained for our first drillship, the Rowan Renaissance, and strong customer enthusiasm for Rowan’s history of operational excellence, high-specification drillship design and experienced deepwater team, reaffirms our confidence in our expansion into the ultra-deepwater market,” said Rowan president and CEO Matt Ralls. The Rowan Renaissance struck steel in July 2012 and is expected to be delivered in late 2013. It has been contracted to Repsol for work commencing in Q1 2014 and is expected to operate offshore West Africa during the first year at a dayrate in the high $610,000s. The second and third drillships, the Rowan Resolute and the Rowan Reliance, are expected to be delivered in Q2 and Q4 2014.
The GustoMSC P10,000 rigs are capable of drilling wells to depths of 40,000 ft in water depths up to 12,000 ft. The DP-3 compliant, dynamically positioned drillships will be equipped with retractable thrusters, dual-activity capability, five mud pumps, dual mud systems and a maximum hookload capacity of 1,250 tons. Each will also be equipped with a seven-ram BOP incorporating full acoustic backup control and storage and handling facilities for a second BOP. The drillships feature hull integration with below-deck riser storage, 4 million-lb riser tensioning, main load path active-heave drawworks with crown-mounted compensation, three 100-ton knuckle boom cranes, an active-heave 165-ton crane for simultaneous deployment of subsea equipment, a variable deck load capacity of 20,000 tons and accommodations for 210 personnel.
