The drilling rig is en route to its first six-year drilling assignment for Petrobras offshore Brazil. Commencement of operations is expected at the end of July.
West Orion is a sixth generation, Friede & Goldman ExD Class high specification design, ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible drilling unit designed with a dynamic positioning system and a water depth capacity up to 3,000m. The 98.82m long, 78.68m wide rig has a high load carrying capacity, an efficient drilling floor layout with improved safety and working environment measures.
Alf C Thorkildsen, chief executive officer at Seadrill Management, says, “We are pleased to report the third consecutive on-time, on-budget delivery of a semi-submersible drilling rig to Seadrill from the Jurong shipyard. This is the third deepwater newbuild delivered to Seadrill that starts a long-term contract with Petrobras. The completion of our 10th newbuilding project within two years confirms Seadrill’s ability to manage complex projects within time and cost and is a great achievement for our organization and the people involved. It also confirms that the Seadrill strategy to order newbuild units with highly reputable yards like Jurong shipyard is paying off.”
