RigCo, Seatrium to Complete Four Offshore Rigs, S$500M

Four offshore drilling units that had been sitting half-built in a Singapore yard have a path back to the water, after Keppel's rig subsidiary signed a deal worth more than S$500 million to finish them.

RigCo and Seatrium agreed on 26 October 2026 to complete construction of the four rigs under a master services arrangement the two companies already had in place.

The package covers a premium seventh-generation drillship, a harsh-environment jackup, and two semisubmersibles engineered for the punishing conditions of Northwest Europe.

Delivery timing is staggered, with the drillship expected to hand over in 2027 and the jackup in 2028, while the completion plans for the semisubmersible pair are still being worked out.

RigCo is not a first-time fleet builder, since it already operates six modern jackups that were delivered and leased out to customers starting in 2022.

For engineers and procurement teams, restarting stalled rig construction is one of the most equipment-intensive exercises in the offshore business.

Hulls that sat incomplete for months or years typically need fresh class surveys, recertification of already-installed systems, and obsolescence swaps where electronics, valves or rotating equipment ordered years ago are no longer supportable, so the restart itself generates a wave of replacement packages before any new-build procurement even begins.

The drillship timeline is the tightest, because a 2027 handover on a seventh-generation unit implies that the high-pressure mud systems, the well-control package and the remaining bulk equipment must be locked in now, and OEMs able to quote certified spares for installed systems have an immediate opening.

The jackup and the semisubmersible pair point toward the North Sea supply chain, where harsh-environment certification drives material selection, from low-temperature steels in structural components through actuated valves and emergency shutdown hardware rated for the duty.

Across four hulls for more than S$500 million, the equipment share is substantial, and second-tier suppliers of pumps, process valves, HVAC and compression packages should track Seatrium's subcontracts closely since those tend to flow months before steel work peaks.

With a six-jackup fleet already running, RigCo also has a standing aftermarket pull for spares, refurbishment and field service that follows every delivery into service.