Aker Solutions to deliver 6 drilling equipment packages to drillships in Brazil

Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract to supply drilling equipment packages for six deepwater drillships being built by Jurong Shipyard for the Brazilian market. The contract value is undisclosed.

The contract includes complete topside and subsea equipment (drilling riser and BOP) packages for six drillships and an option for one further unit.

The drilling units will be delivered between 2015 and 2019. Aker Solutions’ first equipment will be delivered in the second half of 2013. The contract includes project management, engineering, topside equipment, subsea package including Aker Solutions’ Clip riser, and commissioning of the rigs at Jurong’s yard in Brazil. Between 20% and 50% of the deliveries will be sourced and produced in Brazil.

“With the delivery of six complete drilling packages, and a new service and manufacturing site under way in Macaé, Aker Solutions is taking another leap forward in Brazil. Over the last two decades, we have built a strong foundation to meet the growth we see in the market today,” said Luis Antonio Araujo, regional president of Aker Solutions in Brazil.

The equipment will be delivered from Aker Solutions in Norway and Germany, as well as from the company’s new site in Brazil. Aker Solutions is building a new US $100 million service and manufacturing facility in Macaé, Brazil, the country’s offshore capital, in order to meet the company’s growth in the country.

The 335,000-sq-meter drilling equipment site in Macaé will be Aker Solutions’ fourth facility in Brazil, in addition to sites in Rio das Ostras, Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro.

The six new vessels will be operated by Norwegian drilling operators Seadrill and Odfjell Drilling, at three each, under 15-year charter contracts from Petrobras. The drillships will be capable of operating at 10,000 ft water depth and drilling to depths of 40,000 ft.