Keppel to Build KFELS N Class Jackup for the North Sea

Keppel FELS has secured a $371m contract to construct the first KFELS N Class jackup rig for ProdJack AS, a member of the Skeie Group. When delivered at the end of the first quarter of 2010, the KFELS N Class rig will be the largest jackup rig ever to be built in Singapore. It will also be among the world's largest jackup rigs to be constructed for the North Sea. Under the agreement, Keppel will have a 10 percent equity stake in the rig. The KFELS N Class rig is the brainchild of Keppel's R&D arm, Offshore Technology Development, following Keppel's extensive experience in constructing rigs for the North Sea region since 1985. The KFELS N Class design provides customers the flexibility of having a jackup unit that can undertake drilling and production activities concurrently. This state-of-the-art jackup drilling rig will have features that readily accept process modules for production activities. Said Mr. Choo Chiau Beng, Chairman & CEO of Keppel O&M, "This is our second major partnership with a trend-setting customer to develop and build new products to meet the rising needs of the oil and gas industry. The North Sea region is one of the world's harshest operating environments for offshore exploration and production, and comprises numerous marginal fields, each having relatively limited oil and gas reserves. Yet together, these fields contain Western Europe's largest oil and natural gas reserves, and is one of the world's key non-OPEC producing regions. The KFELS N Class is suited for operation in harsh weather conditions, and with water depths of up to 400 feet and drilling depths of down to 35,000 feet. The design is in full compliance with the demanding and technical challenging requirements of rigs operating in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. None of the jackup rigs on order today are specifically designed to meet these requirements. Source: Rigzone