Petrovietnam's drilling arm, PV Drilling (PVD), plans to purchase a third jackup drilling rig to meet soaring demand from oil explorers, a company official said on Tuesday.
"We have plan to place the order for our third rig within this year," the official from the Ho Chi Minh City-based firm said.
He said the offshore rig would cost around $200 million.
The company has not yet decided on a supplier for the new rig.
Last month, it awarded a $191 million contract to Singapore's Keppel Corp. a contract to build its second rig for delivery in 2009.
In March, the firm took delivery of its first rig, also built by Keppel Corp, at a cost of $115 million.
PV Drilling said it had already signed a two-year drilling contract worth $150 million with Petrovietnam's oil exploration joint venture for its first rig.
PV Driling officials have said the company would focus on Vietnamese waters for the next few years where exploration activity was expected to pick up, with an estimated 55 to 60 wells to be drilled this year alone.
Earlier this month, PV Drilling's parent state oil Petrovietnam said it would start offering to foreign oil explorers seven offshore oil blocks via a competitive licensing tender on June 11 as part of a drive to shore up the country's crude oil reserves.
Source: Reuters
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