Keppel AmFELS delivers third jackup rig to Perforadora Central

Keppel AmFELS LLC, a wholly owned US subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has delivered the jackup rig, Papaloapan, to Mexico's Perforadora Central SA de CV (Perforadora Central) on time, within budget and with a perfect safety record.

The rig was christened today at Keppel AmFELS' yard in Brownsville, Texas by Lady Sponsor, Mrs. Gabriela Jiménez de Alvarez Morphy, wife of Mr Luis Alvarez Morphy Camou, Director of Perforadora Central.

Papaloapan is the the third jackup rig built by Keppel AmFELS for Perforadora Central and is based on the LeTourneau Super 116E design. Capable of drilling wells up to 30,000 ft at a water depth of 375 ft, it is the first Super 116E newbuild to be further enhanced to provide for an additional 1,500 kips of elevated load.

At the ceremony, Mr G.S. Tan, President and CEO of Keppel AmFELS, said, "We are glad to be able to deliver another high quality rig to Perforadora Central on time, on budget and in a safe manner. This is the third jackup rig we have delivered to Perforadora Central since 2004 and the fourth rig is in progress with delivery in mid-2014. This is a result of our close partnership with Perforadora Central and our strong engineering and project execution expertise."

Papaloapan has been chartered by PEMEX, the Mexican national oil company, for work in offshore Mexico. Keppel AmFELS' close connection to PEMEX includes having built two 220 Men accommodation modules for Pemex in 2006 as well as repairing and servicing a total of 16 rigs that have been chartered by PEMEX from other companies over the years.

In Singapore, Keppel FELS is building two KFELS B Class jackups for PEMEX directly as well as four for Mexican company, Grupo R. These are in addition to another four units being built by Keppel FELS for Mexican companies such as Oro Negro and CP Latina.

Mr Tan added, "Keppel has developed a strong partnership with Mexican companies. Besides the current rigs that we are building for Perforadora Central, we are also going to repair a jackup rig for PEMEX soon. PEMEX's demand for jack up rigs is expected to remain strong and Keppel's near market, near customer strategy has put us in a good position to benefit from it"

Mexico recently announced that its reserves increased 0.4 percent from a year ago to 13.86 billion barrels as of 1 Jan 2013. PEMEX has announced investment plans of US$25.3 billion for 2013, of which US$20 billion will be targeted at upstream activities.

Mr Patricio Alvarez Morphy Camou, General Director of Perforadora Central said, "We are extremely happy with the job Keppel AmFELS has done not only in delivering the previous two rigs for us, but also in the excellent work done on Papaloapan. We have developed a great working relationship with Keppel AmFELS over the years, and can only look forward to accomplishing other great projects together, starting with the work-in-progress of our latest new build Jackup, Coatzacoalcos."

Keppel AmFELS previously completed Tonala, an ultra premium KFELS B Class jackup for Perforadora Central in 2004, followed by Tuxpan, a LeTourneau S116E rig in 2010. The yard's current projects include the construction of a LeTourneau Super 116E jackup rig for Perforadora Central, which is scheduled for delivery in 2Q 2014 and the major upgrade of the semisubmersible rig, Ocean Onyx, for diamond Offshore.