Rowan Companies has secured a two-year drilling contract for the Rowan Relentless, the fourth and final drillship in the firm's current construction program.
The contract is with Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., for operations in the US Gulf of Mexico.
The contract is due to start in Q3 2015 and will add about US$425 million to Rowan's current contract backlog. Tom Burke, Rowan's President and CEO, said: "We are extremely proud that our fourth drillship will work for FM O&G in the US Gulf of Mexico. Our two companies have enjoyed a mutually beneficial and long-standing working relationship drilling ultra-deep Gulf of Mexico shelf gas wells, and we are delighted to have been selected for this important ultra-deepwater drilling program."
The Rowan Relentless is Rowan's fourth ultra-deepwater drillship. All four drillships are based on a GustoMSC P10,000 hull design, capable of drilling wells to depths of 40,000 ft in up to 12,000ft water depths.
The DP-3 compliant, dynamically positioned drillship will be equipped with retractable thrusters, two readily deployable seven-ram BOP systems, five mud pumps, dual mud systems and a maximum hook-load capacity of 1250-ton. All four of the company's ultra-deepwater drillships are now under long-term contracts.