Noble Corporation has secured a three-year contract worth some $677million with Anadarko for use of its new-build drillship Noble Bob Douglas, one of four ultra-deepwater vessels that the company has under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan, South Korea.
Noble said that the ship, which is being constructed on a fixed price basis, is expected to be utilised for operations primarily in the US Gulf of Mexico.
The Noble Bob Douglas is expected to be delivered in Q4 next year with the contract expected to start shortly thereafter following mobilisation to an initial operating location and client acceptance.
All four new vessels are based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design, and are capable of operations in water depths to 3,659m (12,000ft) with a variable deck load of 20,000 tonnes.
Noble Bob Douglas will be delivered fully equipped to operate in waters to 3,050m) 10,000ft in depth while offering DP-3 station keeping. It will carry two complete six-ram BOP (blowout preventer) systems; have “multiple parallel activity features” that improve overall well construction efficiencies, and accommodations for up to 210 personnel.
The rig will also be equipped with a 165-ton heave compensated construction crane to facilitate deployment of subsea production equipment, providing another level of efficiency during field development programmes.
With the award of this contract for the Noble Bob Douglas, two of the four sister ships are now under contract. The remaining sisters are scheduled to be delivered in 2014 and so there is time enough to secure work for them.