Drilling Rigs NEWS

Awilco Drilling is a Westhill-based firm which has been awarded contract extension with Shell. The company has been rewarded decommissioning contract extension and now will also be covering the abandonment of five further wells. This contract is valid until Q1 2020. The initial contract for the WilPhoenix rig was for 18 wells and was expected to be worth £30 million.

Energy giant, Qatar Petroleum has informed that the company has awarded 8 drilling contracts for its North Field gas expansion project. The contract for two rigs has been awarded to Northern Offshore Drilling Operations and the remaining six has have been won by Gulf Drilling International (GDI). According to the company, the drilling will start from January 2020 before which the drilling rigs are expected to be mobilised and ready.

The number of oil rigs operating in the US rose again this week, with crude futures climbing more than 40% so far this year. Baker Hughes, yesterday, reported that the rig count increased by two oil rigs this week, putting the total count to 833. The rig count had remained on the downhill for the past four months while E&P companies were slashing expenses involved with new drilling.

The merger between UK-based Ensco with rival firm, Rowan has been concluded, creating EnscoRowan, the world’s largest offshore drilling firm by fleet size. EnscoRowan owns a total of 54 jackup rigs, 16 drillships, 12 semi-submersibles and two deepwater managed units. The two companies reached an agreement in October 2018 to merge together. While shareholders of Ensco will hold 55% of the new firm, Rowan shareholders will get 45% of EnscoRowan.

Aberdeen-based decommissioning specialist, Well Safe has closed a deal to buy the Ocean Guardian semi-submersible drilling rig, its first decommissioning asset. The company has now become oil and gas industry’s top well-decommissioning specialist after this major breakthrough. The acquisition fee has been kept undisclosed but according to Well Safe, the company will spend more than £75 million on the vessel's modification.

Neptune Energy has given a rig contract of six wells to CIMC Offshore AS. Under this contract, the Beacon Atlantic semi-submersible drilling unit will be hired and will be managed by Odfjell Drilling AS. MD of Neptune Energy said: "With the contracting of this modern rig, we are on track to develop the Duva and Gjøa P1 fields". Beacon Atlantic is designed to operate on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Rowan Companies has secured a seven-well program for its N-class jack-up rig, Rowan Viking from Lundin Norway AS. The ultra-harsh environment rig will be deployed in Norway for a minimum duration of 265 days. Work under the contract is likely to begin in second-quarter/third-quarter 2020. The contract also has four additional one-well priced options.

Houston-based AFGlobal Corporation has launched its proprietary Performance Drilling platform. AFGlobal’s platform is a unique amalgamation of equipment and software, which allows it to effortlessly support rig operations. The toolkit empowers drilling contractors to efficiently and safely enhance performance through industry-proven solutions. The Performance Drilling platform is intended for the onshore and shallow water drilling markets.

Weatherford International has completed its sale of land drilling operations in Kuwait. The company has sold 12 drilling rigs to ADES International Holding for $123 million and the delivery of two idle land drilling rigs in southern Iraq are pending. Weatherford’s subsidiary signed a definitive agreement with ADES in July 2018 for the sale of its Algeria, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. It also included two idle rigs in Iraq.

India’s state-run oil and gas company, ONGC is planning on buying 27 drilling rigs that would cost Rs 3,000-3,500 crore. The new purchase has been planned to replace nearly half of its ageing onland rigs. ONGC has floated a tender for the same in search of interested suppliers. The new rigs will replace some of the ageing fleet of 67 rigs currently operating at the company’s offshore fields.

US oil firms added oil rigs for the second time in the last three weeks since June due to pipeline constraints in the country’s biggest oilfield. Oil companies added 7 oil rigs in the week that ended on Sept. 14, the biggest weekly increase in a month. The total rig count reached 867, oilfield services giant BHGE said in its report on Friday.

Supermajor Total yesterday forwarded a “final offer” to workers union, Unite for suspending strikes on the North Sea rigs. Talks between Unite and Total were held yesterday at Acas, the independent arbitration service provider arranging the talks. The Unite trade union members will vote on the deal on Monday, while agreeing to call off industrial action on the day. A spokesman for Total E&P confirmed handing out revised final offer.

Maersk Drilling and Aker BP entered into a one-year contract to install Maersk Integrator on the Norwegian continental shelf from June 2019. An ultra-harsh environment jackup rig customised for the North Sea, the Maersk Integrator will be the first in the line of rigs to be fully contracted under the scope of the alliance formed between Aker BP, Maersk Drilling and Halliburton in 2017.

Transocean announced that it will acquire Cyprus’ drilling contractor, Ocean Rig in a £2.1 billion deal. It informed that the deal will be a “combination of cash on hand and fully committed financing provided by Citi”. After the completion of this procurement, shareholders of Transocean and Ocean rig will own 79% and 21% in the shared company. Currently, Ocean Rig owns 2 harsh environment semisubmersibles and 9 high-specification ultra-deepwater drillships.

Maersk Drilling has signed a 2-year contract with Aker BP for the re-activation and quick deployment of the jackup rig Maersk Reacher. The rig has to be installed in the Norwegian segment of the North Sea. Maersk Reacher has to be deployed as an accommodation rig. Operations on rig are estimated to commence by October 2018.

Oil prices dropped today amidst reports of a dip in Saudi crude production. Brent crude futures were priced at $73.68/barrel, up by 0.6%. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.5%, at $68.86 a barrel. Drilling rigs count has been falling in the US through the past three weeks due to slow growth rate and falling oil prices.

Canada-based Husky Energy has granted a one-year contract extension to Transocean’s Henry Goodrich drilling rig. The semi-submersible rig is currently deployed in the Atlantic Ocean offshore Canada. The assessed contract backlog is approximately $100 million, implying that the dayrate is around $274.000. The extended will keep the rig busy until late 2019.

British oil firm, Savannah Petroleum spudded a fourth well, located in Agadem Basin on Friday. Savannah has deployed Rig GW-215 on the Eridal-1 well to carry out the drilling activity till a depth of 2592 metres. The operations are part of Savannah’s current campaign in Nigeria. The Eridal-1 well drilling activities are expected for completion in a month.