SINGAPORE AND SEOUL—Sembcorp Marine Ltd., the world’s second-largest rig builder, said its unit received a $640-million order from Seadrill Ltd. to build a semisubmersible platform to bore for oil in deep waters.

Jurong Shipyard Pte secured a letter of intent for delivery in December 2011, Singapore-based Sembcorp Marine said in a statement to the city-state’s stock exchange Wednesday. A final agreement will be signed later.

Record oil prices and depleting reserves in shallower water are prompting companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. to spend a record $98.7 billion this year on exploration and production, more than four times their investment eight years ago.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-owned oil company also known as Petrobras, plans to order 40 drill ships and platforms worth about $30 billion for delivery by 2017 after it discovered what may be the world’s third-largest oil field off the country’s coast. It said earlier this month it leased about 80 percent of the world’s deepest drilling offshore rigs.

Semisubmersible rigs are used for drilling in deep waters and are held by anchors to keep them afloat.

Sembcorp Marine gained 1.8 percent to S$4.49 during early afternoon trading in Singapore. The stock has advanced 11 percent this year, the third-best performer among the 30-member Straits Times Index. (Bloomberg)

RP shippers will benefit from Damco’s new hub

GLOBAL freight forwarder Damco said the launch of its Singapore hub earlier this month will help Philippine shippers because of shorter cargo transit time and increased sailing frequencies.

LONDON—The cost of shipping Middle East crude to Asia, the world’s busiest route for supertankers, may drop for a fifth day as vessel demand slows and owners lower their rates to win cargoes.

SINGAPORE—Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest container-shipping company, gained the most in almost two weeks in Singapore on optimism earnings will rise as it charges more to carry cargo to the US.

SINGAPORE AND SEOUL—Sembcorp Marine Ltd., the world’s second-largest rig builder, said its unit received a $640-million order from Seadrill Ltd. to build a semisubmersible platform to bore for oil in deep waters.