Esgian Week 23 Report: Semisub Action in Norway, Australia

Esgian provides an update on semisub activities in Norway and Australia in its Week 23 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.

Report Summary

Contracts

Transocean has announced contract fixtures for three harsh environment (HE) semisubmersibles. Together, the fixtures represent approximately $161 million in firm contract backlog.

Shelf Drilling has secured a 15-month award for the 357-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Tenacious for drilling operations offshore West Africa.

Murphy Oil Corporation has exercised an option to extend the contract for the 12,000-ft drillship Noble Stanley Lafosse for a batch of five wells in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Drilling Activity and Discoveries

South Korea's president Yoon Suk Yeol has approved the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy's plan for deepwater oil and gas exploration drilling in the East Sea.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has granted OMV (Norge) a drilling permit for an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea. The well 6605/6-1 S Haydn is located in production licence 1194, which is operated by OMV (Norge) in partnership with INPEX Idemitsu Norge and Vår Energi.

China's CNOOC Limited has made a deepwater gas discovery in the ultra-shallow gas plays in the South China Sea. The discovery was made a the Lingshui 36-1 gas field, located in western South China Sea, with an average water depth of approximately 1,500 metres (4921 ft).

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given Aker BP consent for exploration drilling in block 6507/5 in the Norwegian Sea.

Walter Oil & Gas has received approval to drill an exploration well on Ewing Bank Block 953 in the US GOM with Seadrill 12,000-ft semisub Sevan Louisiana.

Demand

Reabold Resources continues to seek partners for its remaining UK licences, P2605 and P2504 (both 100%).

Shell subsidiary Shell Offshore Upstream South Africa B.V. has applied to drill up to five exploration and/or appraisal wells on Block Northern Cape Ultra Deep (NCUD), a block off the west coast of South Africa in water depths of 2,500 to 3,200 m (8,202 to 10,500 ft).

TotalEnergies and partner APA Corporation are one step closer to making the final investment decision for the Block 58 development. The FID is expected in the fourth quarter of 2024, and the companies are targeting the first oil in 2028.

Mobilisation/Rig Moves

ADES' 400-ft jackup Admarine 501 is being towed to Bahrain's Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (ASRY).

Stena Drilling 10,000-ft drillship Stena Forth is en route to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, where the rig will undergo regulatory surveys.

Diamond Offshore’s 10,000-ft semisub, the Ocean GreatWhite, has mobilised from Kishorn Port and returned to the West of Shetland area to resume its contract with bp, which was paused in early February 2024 due to an incident related to the rig’s lower marine riser package (LMRP).

Environmental activists from Greenpeace have occupied Borr Drilling’s 400-ft jackup Prospector 1 in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, preventing the rig from starting its contract with ONE-Dyas.

Following a protest by Greenpeace activists, which prevented the installation of Borr Drilling’s 400-ft jackup Prospector 1 and the beginning of a contract with ONE-Dyas, a Dutch court has ordered the suspension of operations until a hearing on appeals has been held.

Diamond Offshore's 6,000-ft semisubmersible Ocean Apex has completed its contract with Inpex in Australia and is now en route to start P&A work for Santos.

Other News

Abu Dhabi national oil company ADNOC has signed an agreement to award a 3% participating interest in the SARB and Umm Lulu offshore concession to Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR.

Deltic Energy has been given more time to secure funds for its share of costs on the Shell-operated Licence P2252 and the upcoming Pensacola appraisal well.

Equinor is selling its 19.5% interest in production licences PL 048E, which is the Eirin field, and PL 1201 to PGNiG Upstream Norway.

Shelf Drilling North Sea has received notice from Havtil (Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority) that its application for an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) for the 500-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Barsk has not been accepted.

Ventura Offshore announced Wednesday the first day of trading of the company's shares on Euronext Growth Oslo, under the ticker code “VTURA”.

Transocean has moved to acquire the remaining interest in a joint venture that owns the 10,000-ft 6th Gen semisub, Transocean Norge.

Waldorf Production UK plc and the wider Waldorf group have been pursuing options to address their ongoing liquidity challenges. However, the ultimate parent company is filing for administration.

Singapore-based Keystone Offshore has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the drilling company of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd (CPOE) for strategic cooperation to promote offshore asset transaction and utilisation jointly.

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. has signed an agreement to farm in and acquire a 75% working interest in Block 1 offshore South Africa from Tosaco Energy, becoming the operator of the block.

Major contract awards and capital commitments for the NEO Energy-operated Buchan Horst project in the UK North Sea are now expected in 2025, following the receipt of fiscal clarity in the UK after the election, according to Jersey Oil & Gas, one of the project’s partners.

Hungarian company MVM Group has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Azerbaijani state owned company Southern Gas Corridor CJSC for the acquisition of a 5% stake in the production sharing agreement for the Shah Deniz offshore field in the Caspian Sea and a 4% stake in Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company Limited, which markets natural gas from Shah Deniz.

The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has announced three areas in the North Sea for companies to apply for exploration licences related to CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf.

About two years after making a comeback to the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Børs), offshore drilling contractor Seadrill Limited is now delisting its common shares from the exchange.