Rolls-Royce has signed a contract to supply thrusters and deck machinery for two semi-submersible drilling rigs to be built at Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea for Stena Drilling. The value of the contract is around £22 million to Rolls-Royce.

The new drilling rigs are due for delivery in 2016 and are being built for world-wide operations, including in the rough North Sea. The contract includes options for deliveries to three additional rigs.

Rolls-Royce is a leading supplier of large thrusters and deck machinery to the offshore drilling market. So far, the company has delivered 1,200 thrusters to close to 200 rigs and drillships, and mooring systems to 25 rigs.

Anders Almestad, Rolls-Royce, President-Offshore said: "This contract confirms our solid foot print in the exploration and production market, and we are very pleased that Samsung and Stena Drilling chose to place another order with us. Samsung is our largest yard customer when it comes to propulsion and we value our long lasting relationship with them."

The rigs, two Moss CS60 harsh-environment semi-submersible drilling rigs, will each be equipped with six underwater mountable UUC 455 FP thrusters, eight point-mooring systems as well as control systems from Rolls-Royce.

The thrusters are part of the rigs' propulsion systems, and are used to propel the rigs to and from drill sites and accurately maintain their positioning during drilling operations. By choosing underwater mountable thrusters, downtime is significantly reduced as these are easily mounted and dismantled without drydocking the rig.

About Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, and has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy.
As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 300 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in more than 80 countries.
Annual underlying revenue was £12.2 billion in 2012, of which more than half came from the provision of services. The firm and announced order book stood at £69.2 billion at 30 June 2013, providing visibility of future levels of activity.
Rolls-Royce employs over 45,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in over 50 countries. Over 14,000 of these employees are engineers.
In 2012, Rolls-Royce invested £919 million on research and development, two thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental performance of its products, in particular reducing emissions.
Rolls-Royce supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which connect the company's engineers with the forefront of scientific research.
The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills.