Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder, said it had won a USD620 million order to build a giant offshore drilling ship for a US company, AFP reports.
Under the deal signed Wednesday with the Houston-based drilling firm Rowan, the South Korean shipbuilder will deliver the 229-metre vessel in the first quarter of 2015, the company said in a statement.
The ship will be able to explore up to 12 kilometres (7.4 miles) below the sea surface, it added.
Hyundai has won all four drilling rig orders made by Rowan since June 2011.
"We expect…a steady stream of orders for our drilling ships well recognised in the US and Europe," said the company.
Faced with slowing demand from European commercial shippers and growing Chinese competition, South Korean shipbuilders have focused on higher-value contracts for advanced drilling rigs to explore deep-water oil or gas wells.
Source: AFP