Lloyds List: Noble lands $594m Bingo win from Shell: "NOBLE Corp is set to begin re-building a Bingo 9000 rig, laid up in Dalian, China, after gaining a $594m contract from Shell": Thursday 24 November 2005
 

NOBLE Corp is set to begin re-building a Bingo 9000 rig, laid up in Dalian, China, after gaining a $594m contract from Shell, writes Martyn Wingrove.

The US contractor will install topsides on to the ultra-deepwater hull to turn it into a drilling semi-submersible for Shell's Gulf of Mexico operations.

Noble is tendering for a shipyard to perform a 32-to-36-month upgrade to one of two Bingo 9000 hulls, which Noble purchased from Ocean Rig in March 2002.

It has designed the rig as a EVA-4000 unit and renamed it Noble Danny Adkins.

The rig will be able to operate in 12,000 ft of water in a dynamic positioning mode and accommodate 200 workers.

A drilling package to be installed on the rig will allow it to drill to depths of 35,000 ft.

Shell Exploration and Production has booked the rig to drill wells in the Gulf of Mexico and potentially in other deepwater regions from 2009 with a contract estimated at between $589m and $594m, excluding mobilisation costs.

The deal comes at a time when oil companies are snapping up any available deepwater rigs and when dayrates have soared on the back of strong demand and tight supply.

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