OSLO (Bloomberg) - Scorpion Offshore Ltd., a drilling rig operator, signed a $700 million contract with Keppel FELS Ltd. to build a deepwater semi-submersible rig in Singapore.

Construction of the rig is estimated to take 42 months, with delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011, the Bermuda-based company said in a statement distributed by the Oslo Stock Exchange yesterday. The rig will be capable of drilling wells to 8,500 meters in water depths of up to 2,400 meters, Scorpion said.