Saipem may move from CIMC Raffles

By XU YIHE Singapore

 20 August 2010 01:17 GMT

Italian contractor Saipem is seeking to move its partially built semi-submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 9 away from China’s Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard due to increasing delays.

Saipem — led by chief executive Pietro Franco Tali — hopes to complete the high-specification unit at another yard in Asia.

Sources list Singapore’s 
Sembawang Shipyard as the frontrunner for the award, though another Singapore yard and a South Korean rig builder are also understood to still be in the 
running.

Senior Saipem executives held talks with CIMC Raffles in late July, trying to convince the 
Chinese yard to transfer the 
remaining fabrication job to 
Sembawang.

This potential move has 
become more urgent as Saipem 
is said to be close to signing a charter…

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