Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., South Korea’s leading shipbuilder, said Thursday that it has clinched a $620 million order to build a drill ship.

Under the deal with the U.S.-based Rowan, Hyundai Heavy will deliver the vessel by the end of the first quarter of 2015, the company said. The contract includes an option to build an additional drill ship.

In June last year, Hyundai Heavy won a $1.12 billion deal from Rowan to build two drill ships.

A drill ship is a maritime vessel with drilling apparatus and is used for exploratory offshore drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep waters.

Hyundai Heavy said earlier it was aiming to win $30.6 billion worth of orders this year, up nearly 20 percent from last year.

The shipyard said it is also targeting sales of 27.54 trillion won this year, compared with last year’s 25.2 trillion won. (Yonhap News)