Marco Polo (MP) Drilling has cancelled its order for a Pacific Class 400 jack-up drilling rig at Singapore’s PPL Shipyard, which MP said was due to the yard’s “failure to comply with certain of its material contractual obligations”.
“MP Drilling has taken into account various factors including cracks found on all three legs of the new rig during two rounds of tests, notwithstanding repair works carried out by PPL after the first round of tests,” parent company Marco Polo Marine said in an exchange filing today.
The construction contract, worth $214.3m, was signed on February 26, 2014, but today the Marco Polo Marine subsidiary served the shipyard with a notice of termination and says it will not take delivery of the unit.
The drilling company says it will seek a refund from PPL of around $21.4m plus interest, approximately 10% of the original contract price, which was paid to the yard after the rig construction contract was signed.
