South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries said Wednesday it had won a $1.3 billion order to build two offshore drilling platforms for the Norwegian oil firm Statoil. Under the deal, Samsung will deliver two jack-up rig units used as exploratory drilling platforms for oil in the North Sea by October 2016, the company said in a statement. The giant rigs are capable of exploring 150 metres (500 feet) below the sea surface, and Samsung said it expected annual orders of two to three units between now and 2020. Samsung — one of the world’s top three shipbuilders — has won orders worth $4.8 billion so far this year including the latest deal, after setting an annual target of $13 billion.
