HOUSTON -- Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE:DO) on Jan. 9 announced that a subsidiary has entered into a contract with Keppel AmFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, for the construction of a moored semisubmersible rig with delivery scheduled for the third quarter of 2013. Total cost, including commissioning, spares and project management, but excluding capitalized interest, is expected to be approximately $300 million and to be paid out of available funds.

The rig, to be named the Ocean Onyx, will be designed to operate in water depths up to 6,000 feet ...