Esgian Week 33 Report: New Contracts in North Sea, Nigeria

Esgian provides an update on new jack-up contracts in the North Sea and Nigeria in its Week 33 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.

Report Summary

Contracts

Borr Drilling 400-ft jackup Prospector 1 has secured a contract extension with ONE-Dyas for work offshore the UK and the Netherlands, scheduled to run from February to April 2025.

Shelf Drilling 300-ft jackup Harvey H. Ward has received a notice of suspension from Saudi Aramco for up to one year.

Shelf Drilling 350-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Mentor has secured a two-well contract with an undisclosed operator offshore Nigeria.

Drilling Activity and Discoveries

Petronas is preparing to spud the Silungen-1 exploration well offshore Sarawak, Malaysia.

Odfjell Drilling’s 6th generation 10,000-ft semisub Deepsea Atlantic, has completed its SPS and is now en route to start a contract with Equinor.

Chevron has started oil and natural gas production from the Anchor project in the deepwater US GOM.

Borr Drilling 400-ft jackup Ran has begun work with Wintershall offshore Mexico.

Borr Drilling 400-ft jackup Gunnlod has concluded operations with PTTEP offshore Malaysia as of mid-August 2024.

Following the completion of work with Petronas Carigali offshore Malaysia, Borr Drilling 400-ft jackup Thor is preparing to commence work for Hoang Long JOC offshore Vietnam in August 2024.

Shelf Drilling jackup 350-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Resourceful has moved to drill offshore Tunisia for Eni.

Shelf Drilling (North Sea) 400-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Fortress has started a new contract with TotalEnergies in the UK.

Ventura Offshore 10,000-ft semisubmersible SSV Catarina has left the Balikpapan offshore anchorage site to start drilling for Eni.

Aker BP has secured consent from the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) to conduct exploration drilling in block 6507/5, located within production licence 212 in the Norwegian Sea.

ADES 400-ft jackup Admarine 502 is about to begin its contract in Thailand.

The Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet) has received an application from Equinor for the drilling of an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea.

Valeura Energy has started production from the first wells of its Nong Yao C development in the Gulf of Thailand.

Demand

Chevron proposes developing seven backfill fields to maintain gas supply to the existing gas plants on Barrow Island, as part of the next phase of Gorgon development, offshore Western Australia.

Coastal Oil and Gas has signed a binding Heads of Agreement (“HoA”) with a rig contractor establishing the key commercial terms for a rig contract.

Seadrill 7,874-ft semisubmersible West Phoenix has completed its contract with Vår Energi and is now docked in Hanøytangen, Norway.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has granted DNO a drilling permit for the 2/6-7 S exploration well in the North Sea, targeting the Falstaff prospect.

Shell has taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) on a waterflood project at the Vito field in the US GOM.

Borr Drilling has confirmed that the remaining contract with Saudi Aramco for 400-ft jackup Arabia I has been terminated following the contract suspension earlier this year.

Shelf Drilling has terminated the suspended contracts with Saudi Aramco for jackups Main Pass IV and Shelf Drilling Achiever.

SFL Corporation CEO Ole Hjertaker stated that the company is in dialogue with various oil companies about potential charters for its semisubmersible Hercules, but has not yet secured any follow-on work for the rig after its current contract offshore Canada.

Shelf Drilling is continuing to discuss potential opportunities for its idle 300-ft jackup Trident 16 in Egypt, but due to economic challenges in the country, believes the rig could remain idle for an extended period of time and is now exploring opportunities for the rig outside Egypt.

Mobilisation/Rig Moves

Foresea 10,000-ft drillship Norbe VIII will be entering a Brazilian yard for its 15-year special periodic survey and contract preparations for a new contract to begin early in the fourth quarter of 2024.

ADES 375-ft jackup Admarine 510 is being moved from Saudi Arabia to a yard in Bahrain, where it will undergo maintenance.

Energy Drilling tender-assist rig EDrill Vencedor has departed Crystal Offshore's facility in Singapore where it underwent upgrades and reactivation works.

Stena Drilling 10,000-ft drillship Stena Forth has departed from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and is en route to Morocco to start drilling for Energean.

Rig Deliveries

Borr Drilling took delivery of newbuild 400-ft jackup Vali from a Seatrium shipyard in Singapore this week and is in the final stages of assigning the rig to a previously announced contract.

Other News

Sunda Energy has signed an exclusivity agreement with the Singapore investment firm Pacific LNG Operations Pte Ltd to potentially fund the Chuditch-2 appraisal well in Timor Leste.

Global Petroleum has entered into early commercial discussions with a potential operating partner for a farm-in agreement for its licence PEL 94 offshore Namibia.

A subsidiary of Impact Oil & Gas Limited has entered into an agreement with Silver Wave Energy Pte Ltd to acquire its entire 10% interest (10%) in Area 2 offshore South Africa.

Vantage Drilling International Ltd. reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of around $14.2 million for the second quarter of 2024, down from a net income of $1.5 million reported for the second quarter of 2023.

Africa Energy remains confident that significant gas discoveries in Block 11B/12B off South Africa can be developed, despite the recent decision of its partners to withdraw from the block.

Jackup drilling contractor Borr Drilling has reported net income of $31.7 million for the second quarter of 2024, a 120% increase over the $17.3 million reported in first quarter 2024.

Shelf Drilling is currently pursuing an insurance claim over 300-ft jackup Trident VIII, which remains out of service after suffering extensive structural leg damage.

Shelf Drilling reported a net loss of $14.6 million for the second quarter of 2024 while its adjusted revenues for the quarter were $230.8 million and adjusted EBITDA was $71.5 million.

Shelf Drilling (North Sea) has submitted a new Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) application to the Norwegian regulatory authority Havtil for jackup Shelf Drilling Barsk and anticipates the rig’s contract with Equinor to commence in fourth quarter 2024.