Ingalls to market state-of-the-art jackup design

March 12, 1998 -- As Ingalls Shipbuilding continues its strong move into the offshore market, a licensing agreement has been signed with Zentech, Inc., of Houston, Texas, under which Ingalls will market a design for a new, state-of-the-art deepwater jackup drilling rig.

Zentech, Inc., which specializes in design engineering for the construction of drilling rigs, is known worldwide for its excellence in the offshore market.

"Ingalls has the highest quality workmanship, and Zentech has always sought the same trait in every project we have worked on," said Zentech, Inc. President Ramesh Maini. "This relationship should give our joint clients the best drilling rigs at a very competitive price."

"This agreement allows Ingalls to market and build rigs of the Zentech R-450 design, which is one of the best-designed drilling rigs in the world," said Dave Wright, Ingalls' Program Management Vice President. "We are doing this because we forecast a market in the construction of new jackup drilling rigs, and this licensing agreement will give Ingalls a highly competitive design which will immediately improve our position in the market.

"This company is a well known oil field engineering firm that has done work for most of the major drilling contractors in the world," Wright continued. "They have an impressive list of clientele and have performed a wide variety of very sophisticated projects in the offshore market. Using this concept of a licensing agreement allows a much more economical and practical solution to provide a truly world-class rig design, rather than expending resources for developing a competing design."

Ingalls Shipbuilding, marking its 60th anniversary this year, has remained close to its heritage in the offshore market, first building drilling rigs in the 1950s. In the 1980s, Ingalls delivered 13 jackup drilling rigs, four submersible drilling rigs, a self-unloading cement barge and thousands of railroad hopper cars.

Barge production returned to the shipyard in 1996, as Ingalls completed a contract with Parker Towing Company of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for the construction of 40 hopper barges.

Also in 1996, Ingalls completed the weldout of two giant cylindrical caissons, to form a base for FPS NEPTUNE, a state-of-the-art SPAR natural gas production platform now in operation in the Gulf of Mexico. Last year Ingalls repaired and refurbished the Dolphin 110 jackup rig for Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., of Houston, Texas. This month, Ingalls is completing a repair project onboard the drillship OCEAN CLIPPER, owned by Diamond Offshore of Houston, Texas.

Ingalls has made its mark in another commercial market, building a series of next-generation deepwater Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs), in 240-foot and 190-foot hull lengths, for Edison Chouest Offshore, of Galliano, Louisiana, a leader in the commercial ship chartering industry,. Currently, Ingalls has signed contracts with Edison Chouest valued at $152 million and involving 38 vessels. The first vessel was delivered this week. Additionally, Ingalls recently outfitted two 220-foot OSVs built elsewhere for Edison Chouest. In late 1997, Ingalls performed modification work on a 230-foot icebreaker owned by Edison Chouest, and is also discussing with the Louisiana company additional engineering, construction and outfitting services.