Yet another customer has sought to delay the delivery of a drillship at Samsung Heavy Industries.
South Korea’s second biggest shipbuilder said in a Korea Exchange filing on 10 July that a European customer had asked to delay the delivery of the drillship from 15 August 2015 to 28 February 2017.
The drillship was originally ordered for KRW576.4 billion (USD507.8 million) in June 2013.
In return for delaying the delivery, the customer has agreed to pay KRW632.4 billion for the vessel.
SHI did not identify the customer but Luxembourg-based offshore drilling contractor Pacific Drilling announced this month that it had deferred the delivery of one of its drillships, Pacific Zonda.
Pacific Zonda is being built at SHI, and delivery has been delayed from October 2015, to the first quarter of 2016.
In April, George Economou’s Ocean Rig delayed the deliveries of two drillships it ordered at SHI.
The two drillships were originally scheduled for delivery in February and June 2017.
However, in a Korea Exchange filing on 28 April, SHI said the customer had requested to defer the delivery until 31 January 2019.
The plunge in oil prices has compelled oil companies to slash investments in exploration and production, which has in turn hit the demand for drillships, rigs and offshore support vessels.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.