Rig builder Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) announced yesterday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Keppel Fels has delivered two jack-up rigs to a Mexican client.

The two rigs, built to Keppel's proprietary KFels B Class design, are the first of five jack-up rigs that Keppel Fels is building for Grupo R.

Designed to operate in water depths of up to 400 feet and drill to depths of 30,000 feet, they will be chartered to Mexico's national oil company, Pemex, for operations in the Cantarell oil field in offshore Mexico.

They also have accommodation with full amenities for 150 persons.

"Despite the current low oil price environment, the market continues to prefer safe and efficient rigs with a proven track record like our KFels B Class," said Mr Wong Kok Seng, managing director of Keppel O&M (Offshore) and Keppel Fels.

"We have built strong relationships with our customers and continue to engage them in developing win-win solutions."

With the latest two rigs, Keppel Fels has delivered three rigs to date this year.

Keppel has delivered projects to Mexico since 2004 when it was awarded a contract to build two accommodation modules.

Besides building jack-up rigs, Keppel has repaired and serviced a total of 18 rigs that have been deployed in Mexico.

Shares of Keppel Corporation, the parent company of Keppel O&M, closed 17 cents, or 2.8 per cent lower, at $5.87 last Thursday.

The stock has been under pressure from the protracted weakness in oil prices, although it has since picked up from its latest low of $4.71 in late January, as well as news of rig delivery deferment.

Swiss drilling contractor Transocean earlier this month had announced an agreement with Keppel Fels to defer the delivery and related payments of five high-specification jack-ups until 2020.