China’s shipbuilders is winning more orders for offshore drilling rigs and in recent days. Chinese corporations have successfully inked contracts for offshore drilling facilities as their first contract into offshore facility market and they gradually expand offshore products by winning orders for deep-sea drillship and semi-submersible drilling rig.
As the latest winning, China Merchants Industry Holdings has won a $220m (per unit) worth of order for two jack-up drilling rigs with three options through its subsidiary, Jiangsu Haixin Shipping Heavy Industries (JSHX Ship) from a foreign shipowner, Landmark Drilling, on March 26.
Particularly, JSHX Ship is an offshore-specializing shipyard that it is capable of building and repairing semi-submersible drilling rig, drillship and FPSO, along with jack-up drilling rig.
China’s largest private-owned China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings officially announced on March 25 that it signed an EPC agreement with two Singaporean shipowners for up to four jack-up drilling rigs (firm one and one option, each).
It was marked as the company’s first winning of drilling facility and the contract value is said to be around $180m for each rig.
Another China’s large private-owned Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is said to have won a $170m worth of jack-up drilling rig from a Malaysian shipowner at the end of last year, entering offshore sector for the first time and to top it off, Yangzijiang signed a preliminary agreement for one jack-up drilling rig with Qatar Investment Corporation.
One of the two prominent state-owned shipbuilding corporations, China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)’s subsidiary, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, was placed an additional order for two high-specification jack-up drilling rigs after having won two previously in August 2011 from a foreign shipowner, Prospector Offshore Drilling.
The newbuildings cost $220m per rig, which includes the contract value of shipyard, project management cost and drilling equipment, etc.
The CSSC-affiliated, Shanghai Shipyard, won the first Chinese-built drillship (two 45,000 gt, small and medium sized ‘TIGER’ series with two options) in September 2011 from China’s Reignwood Group’s Singaporean subsidiary, OPUS Offshore, and officially started building since June 1, 2012.
The first drillship is slated for delivery in the first quarter of 2014 and the rig is capable of operating in water depths of up to 1,500 feet and drill to depths of 10,000 feet.
Moreover, last December, it signed a firm contract for two options with the same shipowner, securing a total of four newbuildings of drillship, and Shanghai Shipyard is said to be in charge of design and building.  
Another prominent state-owned shipbuilder, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), has won an additional order for two high-specification jack-up drilling rigs from Norway’s Seadrill on March 5 that Dalian has won a total of six jack-up rigs from the same shipowner. The newbuilding is said to be costing a total of $230m per rig.
DSIC inked a contract for a small multi-purpose drillship with three options from Norway’s Norshore last September, which are capable of operating in water depths of up to 3,000 feet and drill to depths of 10,000 feet.
Meanwhile, CSSC Guangzhou Huangpu Shipbuilding, the US’s Zentech and TSC Group Holdings established a strategic alliance in January 2013 and signed a contract to jointly carry forward a newbuilding project for jack-up drilling rigs. Zentech is said to be in charge of rig design and TSC is to supply a drilling system package with Huangpu to construct. This consortium is proceeding with new order sales and said to be setting to work with a formal contract to be signed before May at the latest.
On the other hand, China’s Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore, the China’s representative offshore drilling rig manufacturer, having the first Chinese-built deep-sea semi-submersible drilling rig (‘COSL Drilling Europe’, built in October, 2010), has pushed forward to winning new orders as it won two jack-up drilling rigs from a Singaporean shipowner last year and another two semi-submersible drilling rigs for ultra-deep water with four options from Frigstad Deepwater in January 11, 2013. The newbuildings of recently won semi-submersible rigs are said to be costing a total of $650m per rig (financing cost excluded).
China’s representative in shipbuilding and offshore sector, COSCO Shipyard Group is said to have inked a contract for $170m worth of a jack-up drilling rig with London-based Foresight’s subsidiary, Talland Navigation, in August, 2012 and later, won an order for one semi-submersible tender drilling rig with one option from Singapore’s Energy Drilling last February for $200m per rig.
The company has a track record to have delivered a deep-water semi-submersible drilling rig (‘Island Innovator’) to Norwegian shipowner last October.