Keppel Wades Into Deep Water To Battle Korean Rivals
Keppel declined to comment on its drillship ambition and referred to a press release issued last month in which Chow Yew Yuen, head of Keppel Offshore & Marine, said Keppel was offering a differentiated design. "Since the launch of our design earlier this year, we have received a very encouraging response from the market, and we have decided to start constructing the first drillship to this design," he said then.
Keppel hopes that enhancements such as the integration of high-capacity blowout preventers (BOPs) - safety valves designed to avert deepwater disasters like the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill - will appeal to customers looking beyond the standard drillships that Korean yards offer, brokers said.
Keppel's drillship can handle BOPs designed to withstand pressure of up to 20,000 pounds per square inch, which is above the 15,000 psi of BOPs installed on new drillships today and double the capacity on the majority of units in operation now.
And Then There's China
In recent years, Keppel and crosstown rival Sembcorp Marine Ltd have seen their dominance in the jackup market chipped away by mainly Chinese shipyards, who have turned to rig building as demand for container ships, dry bulk carriers and oil tankers remains depressed.
As of mid-December, Chinese yards had won 38 of the 78 jackup orders placed globally in 2013, ahead of Singapore's 30. Among the 131 jackups under construction around the world, 61 were at Chinese yards and 47 in Singapore, data from IHS shows.
Even Korean yards that usually build drillships won 3 jackup rig orders in 2013, after exiting that segment decades ago.
Keppel isn't alone in chasing the rising interest in deepwater rigs.
1234
View Full Article
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Weatherford CEO's Rebound Plan Relies On Getting Smaller
- Iran Says Oil Market Is Too Tight For US Zero Exports Target
- China's Squeezed 'Teapots' Eye Petchem Path To Riches
- Baker Hughes: US Drillers Add Oil Rigs For Second Week In Three
- Venezuela Hands China More Oil Presence, But No Mention Of New Funds
- Falcon Oil Declares Commercial Flow Test Results for Shenandoah Well
- Macquarie Strategists Expect Brent Oil Price to Grind Higher
- Japan Failing to Meet Corporate Demand for Clean Power: Amazon
- UK Oil Regulator Publishes New Emissions Reduction Plan
- Pennsylvania County Joins List of Local Govts Suing Big Oil over Climate
- PetroChina Posts Higher Annual Profit on Higher Production
- US, SKorea Launch Task Force to Stop Illicit Refined Oil Flows into NKorea
- McDermott Settles Reficar Dispute
- Russian Navy Enters Warship-Crowded Red Sea Amid Houthi Attacks
- USA Commercial Crude Oil Inventories Increase
- New China Climate Chief Says Fossil Fuels Must Keep a Role
- Oil Demand Outpaces Expectations, Testing Calculus on Peak Crude
- House Passes Protecting American Energy Production Act
- TotalEnergies Restarts Production in Denmark's Biggest Gas Field
- USA Oil and Gas Job Figures Jump
- Republican Lawmakers Say IEA Has Abandoned Energy Security Mission
- Blockchain Demands Attention in Oil and Gas
- Houthis Warn Saudi Arabia of Retaliation If It Backs USA Attacks
- Macquarie Sees USA Oil Production Exiting 2024 at 14MM Barrels Per Day
- Summer Pump Prices Set to Hit $4 a Gallon Just as Americans Hit the Road
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Major Oilfield Discovery
- VIDEO: Missile Attack Kills Crew Transiting Gulf of Aden
- Norway Regulator Blasts Proposal to Halt New Oil and Gas Permits
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Another Major Oilfield Discovery
- New China Climate Chief Says Fossil Fuels Must Keep a Role
- What Is the Biggest Risk to Offshore Oil and Gas Personnel in 2024?
- Vessel Sinks in Red Sea After Missile Strike
- Exxon Rights in Stabroek Do Not Apply to Hess Merger with Chevron: Hess
- Analysts Reveal Latest Oil Price Outlook Following OPEC+ Cut Extension
- Equinor Makes Discovery in North Sea