Esgian Week 37 Report: New Contracts for Floating Rigs

Esgian provides an update on new contract awards for floating rigs in its Week 37 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.

Report Summary

Contracts

Transocean Ltd. has secured a 365-day contract for the 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Atlas with bp in the US GOM.

Norwegian operator Aker BP has extended the contract for Saipem’s 10,000-ft semisub Scarabeo 8 in Norway.

Drilling Activity and Discoveries

Equinor has found hydrocarbons at the Sitka C-02 exploration well in the Flemish Pass area offshore Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, but stated that Sitka is currently classified as a technical discovery and is not commercially viable.

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given DNO Norge consent for exploration drilling in block 35/10 in the North Sea.

LLOG has started drilling the Who Dat South exploration well in the US Gulf of Mexico, using Seadrill's 12,000-ft drillship West Neptune.

Equinor and its partners have proven gas/condensate in development well 6406/2-L-2 H, located 260 kilometers southwest of Brønnøysund, Norway.

CNOOC Ltd. has made a natural gas discovery at the Liwan 4-1 structure in the Pearl Mouth River Basin offshore China.

As Tropical Storm Francine moves through the US GOM, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported that personnel have been evacuated from two non-dynamically positioned rigs, while three dynamical positioned rigs have moved off location out of the storm’s path as a precaution.

Drilling at the Energean-operated Anchois-3 well offshore Morocco is continuing, but reservoirs in the pilot hole were found to be water bearing.

As Hurricane Francine continues to move through the US GOM, personnel have been evacuated from three non-dynamically positioned rigs while four dynamically positioned rigs have moved off location out of the storm’s path, according to US agency the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given Equinor consent to use the 1,640-ft semisub Transocean Enabler for production drilling and completion of two wells located in the Barents Sea off Norway.

Dolphin Drilling’s 1,969-ft semisub Paul B. Loyd, Jr. has completed operations at Harbour Energy's North West Seymour development well and moved on to drill the Gilderoy well in the UK North Sea.

Demand

In relation to the results of the UK’s 33rd Licencing Round Applications, Hartshead Resources has received from the North Sea transition Authority (NSTA) letters of offer and licence documentation covering 6 new oil and gas licences, which cover 10 offshore blocks.

Sunda Energy stated on Monday that negotiations to secure the use of a drilling rig for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well offshore Timor-Leste were ongoing and progressing well.

Parkmead plans to drill an exploration well targeting the Skerryvore prospect in the UK North Sea before the fourth quarter of 2025.

Mobilisation/Rig Moves

Noble’s 350-ft jackup Noble Resolve has completed its contract with Ineos in the Danish North Sea.

The 350-ft jackup Valaris 148 has moved to Abu Dhabi Free Port in the UAE.

Seadrill's 10,000-ft drillship West Capella has completed its contract in Indonesia.

COSL’s 375-ft jackup COSLSeeker has departed Saudi Arabia following the recent suspension of its contract.

Rig Sales

Vantage Drilling has agreed to sell its 375-ft jackup rigs Soehanah and Topaz Driller to ADES International Holding for $190 million.

Other News

Seoul-based SK Earthon, SK Innovation’s oil and gas exploration and production subsidiary, has signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the Ketapu Cluster, located off the coast of Sarawak, offshore Malaysia.

The joint venture partners for Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa have obtained an extension to the deadline for the submission of an environmental impact assessment report to 19 May 2025.

The Norwegian authorities have received applications from 21 companies in the Awards in predefined areas (APA) 2024 licencing round.

Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) has extended its Notice Inviting Bids for Oil and Natural Gas Exploration Under Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round by three months, to 9 December 2024.

Chevron and its joint venture partner Nigerian state oil company NNPC Ltd have converted five of their joint venture assets from five Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) to four Petroleum Prospecting Licenses (PPLs) and 26 Petroleum Mining Leases (PMLs).

Harbour Energy and Mubadala Energy have secured an offshore licence in Indonesia, further strengthening their presence in the region.

Seadrill stated that its 10,000-ft drillship West Gemini, currently working for TotalEnergies offshore Angola, will undergo some out-of-service time in 2025 for calendar-based maintenance.