Mexico’s Pemex takes delivery of new jack-up rig

Keppel FELS Limited, a Singapore-based company recently named “Largest manufacturer of offshore rigs – current” by Guinness World Records, has delivered a KFELS B Class jack-up rig to Mexican national oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX).

The rig was named Yunuen by Lady Sponsor Valerie Pahl-Hernandez, wife of Gustavo Hernandez Garcia, PEMEX’s Director General of Exploration & Production, at a ceremony at Keppel FELS today.

Yunuen is the first of two jack-up rigs Keppel is building directly for PEMEX. It will join another six KFELS B Class rigs that PEMEX has chartered from drilling contractors for deployment in offshore Mexico. Keppel also has another eight KFELS B Class jack-up rigs currently under construction for Mexican companies.

Chow Yew Yuen, CEO of Keppel O&M said: “We are pleased to once again be able to support PEMEX and Mexico with the on time, on budget and safe delivery of another state-of-the-art rig. This is the seventh KFELS B Class jack-up that will work in Mexico and is testament to the strength of this design for owners and operators in the region. We have a second KFELS B Class jack-up rig being built directly for PEMEX and another seven for Mexican drilling contractors that will be chartered to PEMEX.”

The KFELS B Class jack-up is designed to operate in water depths of up to 350 feet and drill to depths of 30,000 feet.  It has accommodation for 120 persons.

Gustavo Hernández Garcia, Director General of Pemex E&P, said, “As Mexico’s exploration and production programme continues to grow, high specification and high performance jack-up rigs like the YUNUEN will be vital in our bid to increase oil production. We are committed to our plans for E&P growth while ensuring that we maximise cost-savings and get the best value where we can. The KFELS B Class rigs have proven to be robust, efficient and economical, and the six that are currently under our charter have been performing excellently. Keppel has been a reliable partner for us with their superior execution capabilities as the world leader in the design and construction of offshore rigs.”