Jasper intends to acquire 2-4 jack-up rigs

  SINGAPORE - Singapore oil and gas services firm Jasper Investments said it intends to acquire 2-4 more jack-up rigs in the next 2-3 years and hopes to return to profitability when its drillship starts work on a well in West Africa in October.
Jasper recently ordered two jack-up rigs from Keppel Corp , the world's largest oil rig builder, at around US$180 million each. The first rig is scheduled for delivery in November 2012, while the second one in May 2013.

The firm currently has a drillship Jasper Explorer and Neptune Finder, a semi-submersible hull pending upgrade, in its portfolio.

'We think that in order to achieve economies of scale and to be able to present ourselves as a serious player in the market, we need more rigs,' Jasper executive director Geoffrey Yeoh told Reuters in an interview.

'Hence the desire to add more jack-ups to our fleet, and this could be another 2 to 4 jack-ups' he said, adding that the current market price of a jack-up rig is between US$180 million and US$200 million. -- REUTERS