In a statement the Nasdaq-quoted offshorecontractor said it has firmed up a deal involving the 12,000-ft drilling depthOcean Rig Skyros (built2013), which was hired by an affiliate of Total.
The DryShips spinoff, which is based inAthens and Stavanger, indicated that the project is scheduled to commence inthe third-quarter of next year.
When the contract started to take shape last summer the operator said it would likely begin prior to the first quarter of 2015, observers note.
The Ocean Rig Skyros was built bySamsung Heavy Industries hit the water in December of lastyear, according to Clarksons Shipping Intelligence Network.
The database claims the newbuildingorder was placed in April of 2011 and cost the company approximately $638m intotal, which is in-line with what Ocean Rig paid for the other drillships it inked at the sameSouth Korean shipyard.
According to DryShips, which owns over50% of Ocean Rig’s stock, its affiliate currently oversees a fleet of twosemi-submersible drilling rigs and 11 ultra-deepwater drillships. Of these, itsays four are still under construction.
Ocean Rig, which trades under the symbol“ORIG”,made headlines yesterday after lining up a contract for theEirik Raude (built 2002). Today, analysts identified the counterparties behindthe $165m deal as Premier Oil and Noble Energy.
In a note to clients Darrin Hicks andJonathan Chappell of Evercore Partners pointed out that the consortium hasoptions to drill additional wells, which means the charterers may hang on tothe semi-submersible for longer than initially expected.
“Although the short-term contract rate was below our estimates, from a utilization perspective, we would view extended employment of the Eirik Raude at or near $560k/day favorably given our expectations for a softening rate environment and the rig's increasingly challenging competitive position as a 12-year old, 5th generation semi-submersible,” they added.
