Reliance Industries has leased a brand new ultra-deepwater drillship to boost its eastern offshore exploration campaign.
"The new-build ultra-deepwater drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2... Commenced operations for RIL in India under a five-year drilling contract," Transocean Ltd, which built the rig, said in a statement.
RIL had awarded a five-year drilling contract to a joint venture of Transocean and Pacific Drilling to construct and operate the drillship. RIL will pay $495,000 per day for the Samsung-design drillship for first six months and $510,000 per day for the remaining period of the contract.
"The dynamically positioned Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2, one of the 24 ultra-deepwater floaters in the Transocean fleet, includes the most advanced drilling capabilities in the offshore drilling industry," the statement said.
Transocean is also building an enhanced Enterprise-class drillship, named Discoverer India, for RIL. Operations are expected to commence during the fourth quarter of 2010.
RIL will pay a day rate of $537,000 for the first six months for Discover India and $557,000 for the remainder period of the initial five-year contract. The company can extend the term of the drilling contract to seven or 10 years.
It currently has four deepsea drill rigs from Transocean for exploratory and development drilling in its portfolio of blocks that includes gas discovery blocks D6 and NEC-25.