[B]Hamilton, Bermuda, October 7 , 2011 - Tullow Oil Ghana Ltd., a subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc has awarded Seadrill a one-year contract for operations offshore Ghana with the newbuild ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rig West Leo. The potential contract revenue for the one-year period is US$204 million which includes US$18 million in mobilization revenue. In addition, the rig can earn a daily performance bonus of up to 10 percent.
[/B][B]West Leo is currently under construction at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore with delivery scheduled for the end of January 2012. The unit will subsequently start its transit to Ghana where commencement on the Tullow contract is expected in mid April 2012. West Leo will be the second unit of the Moss Maritime CS50 Mk II design that Seadrill puts into operations.
Alf C Thorkildsen, Chief Executive Officer in Seadrill Management AS, says, "We are very pleased to have secured our first deepwater contract with Tullow, a fast growing and dynamic independent oil and gas company. We believe Ghana, which is one of the most promising new deepwater frontiers, may offer significant opportunities for us going forward. We continue to strengthen our revenue backlog and have with this contract secured attractive employment for all our deep and ultra-deepwater units.[/B]