Chevron contracts a third Pacific Drilling deepwater drillship

JUNE 22, 2012 — Pacific Drilling S.A. (NYSE: PACD) reports that its ultra-deepwater drillship Pacific Sharav has been awarded a five-year contract by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. for operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Estimated maximum contract revenue, including mobilization and client requested modifications, is expected to be approximately $1,076 million, bringing Pacific Drilling’s total contract backlog as of June 22, 2012, to approximately $3.2 billion.

Pacific Drilling has four Samsung Heavy Industries drillships in service, to more are set for delivery from the South Korean shipbuilder’s Geoje shipyard in 2013, while a seventh is scheduled to be delivered in May 2014

Pacific Sharav is scheduled for delivery by Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea in the fourth quarter of 2013, on completion of construction and client requested modifications. The drillship will be capable of operating in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and drilling wells up to 40,000 feet deep.

The ship will be the third Pacific Drilling drillship contracted by Chevron. Pacific Bora has been working on a three year contract for a Chevron subsidiary offshore Nigeria since August 2011, while Pacific Santa Ana has been working for Chevron in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico since May (see earlier story).

Pacific Drilling CEO Chris Beckett stated, “We are proud to announce the expansion of our relationship with Chevron to include a third drillship. This contract exemplifies our strategic commitment to building strong customer relationships and allows us to leverage the operations support infrastructure which we have already developed in the region.”