Esgian Week 36 Report: New Contracts Awarded in India, Guyana and West Africa

Esgian provides an update on new contract awards for Greatship, Transocean, Noble and Stena Drilling in its Week 36 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.

Greatship has secured a contract with Cairn for its 350-ft Greatdrill Chetna jackup drilling rig in India. The contract is firm for six months at a dayrate of approximately $90,000, starting in late November or early December 2024.

Transocean has secured a binding letter of award from Reliance Industries for its 6th generation 12,000-ft drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 in India.

ExxonMobil has awarded 4.8 years of backlog to Noble's four drillships operating under a Commercial Enabling Agreement (CEA) offshore Guyana. This additional time has been assigned evenly to each of the four rigs, extending their contract durations from the second quarter of 2027 to the third quarter of 2028.

Stena AB, owner of drilling contractor Stena Drilling, has confirmed that ExxonMobil extended its contract for the 10,000-ft drillship Stena Carron offshore Guyana until 30 June 2025.

Constellation 9,000-ft semisubmersible Alpha Star has started a new contract offshore Brazil, carrying out workovers at BC-10 field in the Campos Basin for Shell.

Mexican state oil company Pemex has requested an extension to the contracts for Constructora y Perforadora Latina (CP Latina) jackups La Santa Maria and La Covadonga. The two 400-ft jackups are currently contracted to Pemex until 31 December 2024.

Shelf Drilling has secured new contract awards for two jackup rigs in West Africa.

Drilling Activity and Discoveries

Mexican state oil company Pemex has received permission from regulatory agency Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos to drill the Tlalkivak-101EXP exploration well with owner operated 400-ft jackup Kukulkan.

The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given consent to OKEA for the use of Odfjell Drilling’s 6,560-ft semisub Deepsea Nordkapp for pilot hole drilling in block 31/7 in the North Sea.

Oil production has started from the Tyrving field in the Alvheim area of the North Sea offshore Norway.

ExxonMobil is using Stena Drilling 10,000-ft drillship Stena Carron for exploration drilling at the Hammerhead-4 well on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.

Chevron has begun water injection operations at the Jack/St. Malo and Tahiti facilities in the US GOM to boost oil and natural gas recovery from these deepwater fields.

Murphy Oil Corporation is preparing to spud the Sebastian #1 exploration well in 6,571 ft of water on Mississippi Canyon Block 387 in the US GOM this month.

Island Drilling’s 4,000-ft semisub Island Innovator has recently started the 2024 abandonment campaign in Mauritania for Tullow Oil, managed by Petrofac.

Talos Energy has reported that the Walter Oil & Gas-operated Ewing Bank 953 well discovered commercial quantities of oil and natural gas.

Esso Australia Resources, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, has submitted an environment plan to NOPSEMA for the drilling of the production well as part of the Kipper Stage 1B development of the Kipper gas field in VIC/L25 in the Bass Strait, off the coast of Australia.

Demand

In recent weeks, the UK government has announced a number of measures which have materially increased the level of uncertainty in relation to the UK’s oil and gas sector, leaving investment decisions in this context in a challenging situation.

Chevron and its partners in the Aphrodite field on Block 12 offshore Cyprus have submitted an updated plan for development of the field to the government of Cyprus, based on a previously approved development and production plan.

Hartshead Resources has re-processed seismic over its P2607 licence, which comprises its Phase I project (Anning and Somerville fields), located in the UK North Sea.

UK operator EnQuest has shared its disappointment over the current fiscal situation in the UK, warning about the impact of the new government’s announced policy changes on investment in the UK North Sea.

Mobilisation/Rig Moves

Borr Drilling’s 400-ft jackup rig Gerd has completed its contract with Bunduq in the UAE.

COSL Drilling’s 2,460-ft semisub COSLPioneer has finished its contract with CNOOC in the UK waters of the North Sea and is heading to Norway.

Shelf Drilling’s 300-ft jackup Harvey H. Ward has moved to Ras Al Khair anchorage, marking the beginning of its contract suspension with Saudi Aramco.

Valaris' 350-ft jackup Valaris 147 has moved to Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura anchorage, starting its contract suspension with Saudi Aramco.

Rig Sales

Transocean has entered into agreements with an undisclosed third party to sell the 10,000-ft semisubmersible Development Driller III and associated assets for $195 million and the 12,000-ft drillship Discoverer Inspiration and associated assets for $147 million.

Stena Drilling 5,000-ft semisubmersible Stena Spey has been sold for recycling and is expected to be towed to a yard in Turkiye in January 2025.

Other News

Noble Corporation and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. have received clearance from the Australia Competition & Consumer Commission, in relation to the pending merger.

Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO has completed the acquisition of stakes in five oil and gas fields, including an operatorship, in the Norne area in the Norwegian Sea from Vår Energi.

Australian oil and gas company Santos informed on Monday that the Bayu-Undan field joint venture has agreed terms of a Sale and Purchase Deed (SPD) to transfer a 16% stake in the Bayu Undan upstream project to Timor GAP, a Timor-Leste government-owned oil company, with an economic date of 1 July 2024.

Energy industry trade body, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), on Monday 2 September released data which models the impact of the UK’s government’s announced stronger Energy Profits Levy (EPL) on the UK economy.

Conrad Asia Energy has signed a binding Gas Sales Agreement (GSA) for the sale and purchase of the export portion of natural gas from the Mako gas field with Sembcorp Gas Pte Ltd in Singapore.

Brazilian independent company 3R Petroleum has changed its name following the merger with another independent oil company, Enauta.

bp Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT) has agreed to divest its Immortelle, Flamboyant, Amherstia, and Cashima offshore gas fields and associated production facilities to Perenco T&T. The undeveloped resources from the Parang field are also part of the agreement.

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has announced the winners of the first bidding round for oil and gas blocks in 2024.

Sunda Energy has submitted applications for two offshore licence areas in the Philippines.

As of 3 September 2024, Wintershall Dea's E&P business, excluding Russia-related activities, has been transferred to Harbour Energy.

Greenpeace Nordic and Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway) are facing the Norwegian government in court once again, in appeal proceedings starting on 4 September and running until 12 September 2024.

Noble Corporation plc has completed its acquisition of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. The acquisition adds around $2 billion of backlog to Noble, which now reports its current backlog at $6.7 billion.