Saipem gets the Samsung Santorini for about two years

Saipem, the Italian contractor, said it signed a bareboat charter contract with the Samsung Heavy Industries Company yards for a new drillship, in which the Samsung Santorini will be delivered in November this year. 

This charter of about two years duration allows Saipem to strengthen the competitiveness of its fleet without investing in new assets; the company said. Instead, they have the opportunity to leverage their consolidated expertise in the selection and management of technologically advanced vessels.

"Santorini increases our production capacity and allows us to meet the demand for new contracts at a stage in which Saipem's current offshore drilling fleet has almost full contractual coverage for the next few months," said Saipem's Marco Toninelli, COO Drilling Offshore.

The Samsung Santorini is a seventh-generation drillship equipped with two 7 cavities anti-eruption devices (Blow Out Preventer – BOP), the highest standard for ultra-deep water drillships.

It is capable of operating at water depths up to 12,000 feet (over 3,500 meters). The vessel is said to hold solutions in the field of digitalization and automation.