Pacific Drilling Gets Funding for Two Drillships
Pacific Drilling S.A. sign a $1 billion senior secured credit facility agreement to finance construction of the Pacific Sharav & Pacific Meltem. The term loan made pursuant to the credit facility will have a maturity of 5 years from the delivery date of the Pacific Meltem. A portion of the funding will be provided before delivery of the vessels, with all drawdowns from the facility subject to satisfaction of customary conditions precedent. The transaction was led and structured by Citibank and DNB, and supported by the Norwegian export credit agencies Garanti-Instituttet for Eksportkreditt (GIEK) and Eksportkreditt Norge AS. Also acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers were ABN AMRO, ING, SEB and Standard Chartered Bank.
Pacific Drilling Extends Utra-Deepwater Drillship Option
Pacific Drilling S.A. agrees with Samsung Heavy Industries to extend an option to construct an eighth ultra-deepwater drillship. The contractual option has been extended until January 18, 2013, on the same commercial terms, including delivery scheduled for the first quarter of 2015. Pacific Drilling says it is a fast growing company that is committed to becoming the industry’s preferred ultra-deepwater drilling contractor. Their fleet of seven ultra-deepwater drillships will represent one of the youngest and most technologically advanced fleets in the world. The company currently operates four recently delivered drillships under customer contract and has three drillships under construction at Samsung, two of which are under customer contract.
ABB Wins $80 million Order From Samsung Heavy Industries
ABB recently won an order worth $80 million from Samsung Heavy Industries to supply energy efficient drives, motors and electrical power systems for five drilling vessels and two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to be built at Samsung’s shipyard in Korea. The vessels will be used to extract, process and transport oil and gas. The order was booked in the second quarter of 2012. Samsung Heavy Industries, a branch of the giant South-Korean holding, focuses its shipyard business on a wide range of large vessel types, including LNG carriers, drill ships and semi-submersible drilling rigs.
ABB Wins Electrical Contract for Drillships, LNG Carriers
ABB's order, worth $80 million from Samsung Heavy Industries, is to supply energy efficient drives, motors and electrical power systems for five drilling vessels and two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to be built at Samsung’s shipyard in Korea. The vessels will be used to extract, process and transport oil and gas. Samsung is building five drill ships (three for Seadrill Ltd. in Norway, one for Pacific Drilling S.A in Brazil and one for Ensco Plc in the UK) and two LNG carrier vessels for Golar LNG Ltd in the UK. The vessels will be used for oil and gas exploration and the transportation of liquefied natural gas. ABB will deliver the complete electrical system for the seven vessels…
Five-year Contract for Pacific Drilling Vessel
Pacific Drilling S.A. Pacific Sharav is scheduled for delivery by Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea in the fourth quarter of 2013, upon completion of construction and client requested modifications. The drillship will be capable of operating in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and drilling wells up to 40,000 feet deep. The Chevron will require the drillship to operate in the Gulf of Mexico. Estimated maximum contract revenue, including mobilization and client requested modifications, is expected to be approximately $1,076 million, bringing Pacific Drilling’s total contract backlog as of June 22, 2012, to approximately $3.2 billion. Pacific Drilling CEO Chris Beckett stated, “We are proud to announce the expansion of our relationship with Chevron to include a third drillship.
Next Generation Deepwater Drillship Starts Work
Chevron Corporation announced that the Pacific Santa Ana, a deepwater drillship built to Chevron's specifications, has arrived in the Gulf of Mexico to work for Chevron under a five-year contract with a subsidiary of Pacific Drilling S.A. It is the first drillship designed with the capacity to perform dual gradient drilling (DGD). Unlike conventional deepwater drilling, which uses a single drilling fluid weight in the borehole, dual gradient drilling employs two weights of drilling fluid – one above the seabed, another below. This allows drillers to more closely match the pressures presented by nature and effectively eliminates water depth as a consideration in well design.
