Esgian Week 30 Report: New Deals for Valaris, Noble and Transocean
Esgian provides an update on new rig deals in its Week 30 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.
Report Summary
Contracts
Valaris has been awarded a multi-year contract with Equinor Energy do Brasil, a subsidiary of Equinor, for the 12,000-ft drillship Valaris DS-17. The contract relates to work on Project Raia offshore Brazil.
Noble Corporation has secured a one-well contract for 350-ft jackup Noble Resolve with Central European Petroleum (CEPetro) offshore Poland. The upcoming work will mark Noble’s first drilling campaign in Polish waters.
Etesco Construções e Comércio Ltda has secured a win in Petrobras' tender for a jackup drilling rig to conduct P&A operations and assist with decommissioning of fixed platforms at several mature development fields in Brazil.
Petrobras has exercised a 279-day option for Transocean 10,000-ft drillship Deepwater Mykonos offshore Brazil at a dayrate of $366,000.
Transocean has confirmed that 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Invictus was recently awarded a 40-day contract extension in the US GOM, keeping the rig working into August 2024.
Transocean 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Atlas has been awarded a new two-well contract in the US GOM with Beacon Offshore Energy at a dayrate of $580,000.
T7 Global Berhad subsidiary Tanjung Offshore Services Sdn. Bhd. has secured a letter of award from Petronas Carigali for the provision of a low-cost jackup drilling rig for a 53-well plug and abandonment program, understood to be offshore Malaysia.
Saipem 375-ft jackup Perro Negro 7 will begin its contract suspension from work with Saudi Aramco in the fourth quarter of 2024. This suspension is for up to 12 months.
Drilling Activity and Discoveries
Galp is preparing to drill the first of four new exploration and appraisal wells offshore Namibia in the fourth quarter of 2024 and has secured long lead items, rig, logistics and well service contracts for the work.
Partner Woodside has confirmed that TotalEnergies spud the Niamou Marine01 exploration well on Marine XX offshore Republic of Congo in late May 2024.
Transocean now expects an upcoming contract for one of its ultra-deepwater drillships offshore Mexico to begin in early 2026 and has expanded the selection of rigs it can assign to this work.
Demand
Antler Global Limited has initiated discussions with rig owners in order to secure a jackup to drill a planned well on block EG-08 offshore Equatorial Guinea in the second half of 2025.
Bunduq has issued a market survey for one jackup to work on the El Bunduq oil field in 2025.
Energean has taken the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Katlan development project in Israel.
Brazilian state oil company Petrobras has put out a new tender for up to four floating rigs.
Mobilisation/Rig Moves
Valaris’ 400-ft jackup, the Valaris 123, has completed its contract with Ithaca Energy in the UK North Sea and is moving on to its assignment with Shell.
The Odfjell Technology-managed 450-ft jackup Linus has completed its Special Periodic Survey (SPS) and upgrades at a yard in Norway.
Velesto Energy 375-ft jackup Naga 6 has entered Labuan Shipyard in Malaysia for its special periodic survey.
ADES' 250-ft jackup Admarine 262 left Bahrain on Wednesday, 24 July, and is now on its way to Egypt.
Rig Sales
Ventura Offshore has completed its previously announced acquisition of the 2013-built 10,000-ft 6th generation semisubmersible SSV Catarina.
Other News
Following the provisional award of three blocks as part of the 33rd UK offshore licencing round, Parkmead has now been formally awarded the P2634 licence by the UK Government's North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).
Canada’s Tenaz Energy has entered into an agreement with Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij B.V. (NAM), a 50/50 joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil, to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of NAM Offshore B.V. (NOBV), which will make Tenaz the second-largest operator in the Dutch North Sea.
ONGC Videsh Limited, a subsidiary of Indian state oil company ONGC, has signed a definitive sale purchase agreement to acquire a 0.615% participating interest in the Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) oil field offshore Azerbaijan from Equinor.
The Lower Saxony Department for Water, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN) has ordered immediate enforcement of all licences granted to ONE-Dyas related to construction operations for the N05-A project in the North Sea.
Dolphin Drilling’s $20 million bank guarantee submitted as part of an ongoing arbitration process with General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL) has been discharged and is no longer in effect.
Marine engineering and shipyard company Seatrium stated that it has secured contracts for the refit of two jackups and two drillships.
Pancontinental Energy and Woodside are continuing the interpretation and analysis of seismic data for licence PEL 87 in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia.
UK-based KCA Deutag and the U.S.-based Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (H&P) have announced a definitive agreement under which KCA Deutag will be acquired by H&P for $1.9725 billion in cash.
The waiting period under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 for the pending merger of offshore drilling contractors Noble Corporation and Diamond Offshore has expired.
Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Hibiscus Oil & Gas Malaysia Limited (HML), has been awarded a 65% participating interest and operatorship in a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) located offshore Malaysia by Petronas.
Jadestone Energy has been awarded through the Malaysia Bid Round Plus (MBR+) a 100% participating interest in a Small Field Asset Production Sharing Contract (SFA Cluster PSC) offshore Peninsular Malaysia by Petronas.