Vietnam’s Petrovietnam Drilling & Well Service Corporation (PV Drilling) has held the naming ceremony for a multi-purpose jack-up rig it purchased from U.S.-headquartered offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation in 2025.

PV Drilling held a naming ceremony for PV DRILLING IX, which it describes as a “super rig”, on March 27 at the PTSC Downstream Port in Rach Dua Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, expected to begin providing drilling services from April.

Formerly known as Noble Highlander, the rig is of Friede & Goldman JU2000E standard design, capable of maximum drilling depth up to 9,144 meters, and operating in water depths up to 129.5 meters.

The rig was brought into operation in 2016. Before coming under PV Drilling’s ownership, it had operated for several years in the North Sea for major oil companies such as Maersk Oil and TotalEnergies, from 2016 through the end of 2021, the Vietnamese company said.

With the upgrade and commissioning of PV DRILLING IX, PV Drilling now operates six jack-up rigs and one semi-submersible tender-assisted rig, with this entire fleet under contract with customers across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.

“The rig is fitted with modern machinery incorporating the latest technologies, including automated drilling and pipe-handling systems, as well as fully integrated equipment to support simultaneous operations. It is capable of handling high-temperature, high-pressure (HPHT) wells,” PV Drilling said.

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