Diamond Offshore orders second ultra-deepwater drillship

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Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) has announced that a subsidiary, Diamond Offshore Drilling Limited, has exercised its option to build a second ultra-deepwater drillship with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. with delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2013. Total cost, including commissioning, spares and project management, is expected to be approximately $590 million and is anticipated to be paid out of cash flow and available funds.

Diamond Offshore has also obtained from Hyundai a fixed-price option for the purchase of a third drillship which the Company has the right to exercise at any time before the end of the first quarter of 2011. The two new drillships are planned to be named Ocean BlackHawk and Ocean BlackHornet.

Like its previously announced sister drillship, the BlackHornet will be dynamically-positioned, have a seven ram blow-out preventer, dual activity capability, five mud pumps and a maximum hook-load capacity of 1,250 tons. The unit will be designed for operations in up to 12,000 feet of water.

Diamond Offshore President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Dickerson said: “The addition of this second new drillship to our fleet will provide multiple ultra-deepwater options to our customers, who can then perform state-of-the-art drilling with Diamond Offshore’s high standards of systems integrity, safety and operational excellence.

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