Keppel hands over fifth jack-up rig to Mexican client

Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) in the U.S., has delivered Uxpanapa, a KFELS B Class jack-up rig, to Mexico’s Central Panuco S.A. De C.V., a subsidiary of Mexico’s Perforadora Central S.V. De C.V.

The rig was delivered by Keppel O&M’s wholly owned subsidiary, Keppel AmFELS LLC. It was christened on Wednesday at Keppel AmFELS’ yard in Brownsville, Texas by the owners of Central Panuco.

Uxpanapa is the the fifth jack-up rig built by Keppel AmFELS for Perforadora Central and the second based on Keppel’s proprietary KFELS B Class design.

Simon Lee, President of Keppel AmFELS, said at the ceremony, “The delivery of this fifth jack-up rig to Central Panuco to their highest satisfaction is a result of our close partnership backed by the yard’s strong capabilities.“

Uxpanapa will be chartered by Pemex, the Mexican national oil company, for work in offshore Mexico. Keppel AmFELS’ past collaboration with Pemex includes having built two 220 men accommodation modules for Pemex in 2006, as well as repairing and servicing a total of 18 rigs for various drilling operators that have been chartered by Pemex over the years.

Patricio Alvarez Morphy Orvañanos, Senior Vice President of Central Panuco added, “We are pleased to receive the Uxpanapa, another high quality jack-up rig from Keppel AmFELS on time and on budget. In the current challenging market conditions, oil companies such as Pemex prefer highly cost-efficient and reliable equipment such as the KFELS B Class jack-up rig which has a proven track record operating in Mexico. The Tonala, our current KFELS B Class jack-up, has been performing outstandingly for Pemex.”

Keppel AmFELS previously completed Tonala, an ultra premium KFELS B Class jack-up, for Perforadora Central in 2004, followed by three LeTourneau S116E rigs, namely Tuxpan in 2010, Papaloapan in 2013 and Coatzacoalcos in 2014.