On 2 February 2013, Mr.Marut Jitpatima, Ambassador of Thailand to Singapore, attended the Rig Naming Ceremony for “Transocean Siam Driller” and “Transocean Andaman” at the Keppel FELS yard in Singapore. This has been a joint partnership between the Singaporean and the US private sectors. Kepple FELS designed and constructed the rigs to meet the requirements of Transocean. The two rigs then were contracted to Chevron for offshore work in Thailand. The Ceremony was graced by Mr. Masagos Zulkifli, Senior Minister of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Singapore.

     Senior Minister of State emphasized the importance of this joint venture as Singapore side has been able to excel in developing rig design to be well-suited to its customers in the global energy market. This has been due to achievement of the Singapore Government to constantly innovate technology and design for the product development. Keppel FELS has been able to deliver 20 rigs in a year placing Singapore on the map of the global offshore and marine sector.

     While Singapore has no oil and gas resources, R&D programmes initiated by the public and private sectors of Singapore have attributed to Singapore’s sustainable growth and global economic competitiveness.