Vantage Drilling has entered into an agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) to construct an ultra-deepwater drillship, to be named 'Tungsten Explorer'.
The agreement is a fixed price turnkey contract for the construction of the drillship with a scheduled delivery date of May 31, 2013. The cost of the 'Tungsten Explorer', including all project management, commissioning, spares, pre-delivery crew costs and inventory is estimated to be approximately $580 to $590 million. Vantage has also obtained a fixed price option for the purchase of an additional drillship.
'Tungsten Explorer' will be constructed at DSME's shipyard in Okpo, Korea, and will be capable of operating in water depths up to 3,700 metres, with a total vertical drilling depth capacity of 12,000 metres. The hull design has a variable deck load of 20,000 tonnes and measures 238 metres long by 42 metres wide. The drillship will be equipped with advanced features including DP3 dynamic positioning system, 1,135-tonne hook load drilling package, a 6,700kW drawworks, as well as offline pipe handling and trip saver system. The drillship will have accommodations for 200 personnel.
{WISroYQ symbol='VTG'}