A three-year contract valued at US $660 million in revenue has been signed by Rowan Companies with US independent Cobalt International Energy for its newbuild drillship Rowan Reliance to work for the operator in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rowan said the unit, one of its new ultra-deepwater drill- ships currently under construction at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, is expected to operate in the U.S. Gulf. The Rowan Reliance is expected to be delivered from HHI at the end of October 2014.

The contract is expected to start in late January 2015 following mobilisation, with the effective dayrate for the work to be $602,000, including mobilisation revenues, equating to $660 million in additional revenue backlog for the company.

Matt Ralls, Rowan’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are very pleased to enter into this relationship with Cobalt. They have a very exciting growth story with a strong track record in ultra-deepwater exploration. We will complement their growth potential through our expansion into the ultra-deepwater drilling segment with the most advanced drillships in the industry.”

The Rowan Reliance is one of four ultra-deep drillships being constructed for Rowan by HHI. All four are based on the GustoMSC P10,000 hull design, capable of drilling in water depths of up to 3,658 m (12,000 ft), to well depths of 12,192 m (40,000 ft). The DP-3 compliant, dynamically positioned drill- ship will be equipped with retractable thrusters, two readily deployable seven-ram BOP systems, five mud pumps, dual mud systems and a maximum hookload capacity of 1,250 tons.

Three of Rowan’s four drillships being built at HHI are now under contract. The fourth remaining uncontracted drillship, the Rowan Relentless, is scheduled to be delivered from the shipyard at the end of March 2015.

Offshore