Savanna Energy Services signs contract to build four new drilling rigs

Savanna Energy Services signs contract to build four new drilling rigs

CALGARY, Alberta -- Savanna Energy Services has signed a contract to expand its drilling operations in Australia.

Savanna will deploy four Top Drive Single (TDS) drilling rigs to operate in Queensland for an existing customer, to support their east coast LNG project. The new design TDS 2000 and TDS 3000 rigs are under multi-year, take-or-pay contracts, with the first rig expected to begin operations in first-quarter of  2016. The capital cost of the four new TDS drilling rigs will be allocated to Savanna’s 2015 and 2016 capital programs, and will aggregate $63.4 million.

Currently, Savanna has five drilling rigs and five workover rigs, operating in Australia. The remainder of Savanna’s current capital program is focused on new-build opportunities to increase the depth and capacity of its drilling fleet, expanding Savanna’s offering of deep double and triple drilling rigs.

Savanna remains on schedule to deploy one heavy double drilling rig for Canada in fourth-quarter of 2014, and three VELOX triple drilling rigs for the U.S. in fourth-quarter of 2014 and first-quarter of 2015, all under long-term contracts.