Noble has placed an order for a ultra-deep water harsh environment drillship.
The price of the ship is estimated to be ~$600 million and it is scheduled to be delivered in 1H/2011. Also Noble has options for three additional indentical drillships.
Noble hasn't secured a contract for the vessel, so it's building it on speculation that the deep water market will remain firm in the following years. Noble's management has painted a rather bleak picture in its previous corporate presentations for drillers who have been building new vessels on speculation claiming that some of its competitors are facing delays and manpower shortage and that other drillers have misslead investors about the full costs of their newbuilds. Most of these accusations seemed to be directed at Seadrill and probably stemmed from the failed Smedvig takeover attempt few years ago.
Noble says that the costs of this drillship is estimated to be $585 million, which seems very low considering that Pride International is paying $745 million for the drillship it ordered a month ago. This price differential is probably explained by the fact that the korean shipyard STX doesn't have experience in building drilling vessels, so its most likely building the ship at cost. Also the design of the ship( Huisman Globetrotter) is brand new. By choosing an inexperienced yard and a new design Noble is taking a quite of a large risk.
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