Italian energy services contractor Saipem has signed a bareboat charter contract with Samsung Heavy Industries for the seventh-generation drillship Samsung Santorini, which will be delivered in November 2021.
, which will be delivered in November 2021. Saipem said that the bareboat charter of about two years allows the company to strengthen the competitiveness of its fleet without investing in new assets.
The contract with Samsung still provides for the option to purchase the ship, which can be exercised at the discretion of Saipem depending on the trend of demand.
Marco Toninelli, COO drilling offshore, commented: “Samsung Santorini enters the Saipem fleet with an innovative rental agreement and expands its offer with one of the best latest generation drillships. Santorini increases our production capacity and allows us to meet the demand for new contracts at a stage in which Saipem’s current offshore drilling fleet has almost full contractual coverage for the next few months.”
The drillship was first ordered by the Transocean-acquired Ocean Rig, but was relinquished in September 2019, in addition to the Ocean Rig Crete.
