DIAMOND Offshore Drilling has secured three term drilling contracts from Petrobras that are expected to generate combined maximum total revenue of about $1.4billion, excluding potential performance bonus payments and any potential contract extensions. This represents at least 11 years of contract drilling backlog, according to Diamond. The dynamically-positioned ultra-deepwater semi-submersible, Ocean Valor, has a three-year deal worth about $493million and preparations were under way early-March to mobilise the rig from Singapore to Brazil in time for drilling to being this summer. There is a two-year option to extend the contract.
The deepwater semi, Ocean Baroness, has also picked up a three-year commitment that would earn maximum total revenue of some $307million, plus a potential 5% performance bonus. It is mobilising from the US Gulf to Brazil and should start work Q3 this year.
Petrobras has the option to convert the contract to five years at any time during the first year of operation with a slight reduction in dayrate.
The deepwater drillship, Ocean Clipper, has a five-year commitment with a total revenue potential of $557million, plus a potential 5% performance bonus. The rig is currently working for Petrobras under a contract that extends until mid-December 2010. Further, Diamond said it had been advised by Petrobras that it would initially employ the Ocean Courage offshore Brazil starting late Q2 this year. The rig is currently under a previously announced five-year contract to Petrobras extending until mid-February 2015. The rigs, Ocean Valor and Ocean Courage, are ultra-deepwater semi-submersibles purchased out of bankruptcy by subsidiaries of Diamond Offshore in late-2009.
On the European side of the Atlantic, Seadrill has received a letter of intent from Statoil for use of the harsh environment, heavy-duty jack-up drilling rig, West Epsilon, on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The letter represents a four-year contract with an estimated contract value of some $394million. Start-up on December 29 will mark a direct continuation of the rig’s present assignment.
West Epsilon is presently operating for Statoil on the Sleipner field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Dolphin, a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Energy, has also entered into a contract with Statoil, on this occasion a three-year deal worth about $421million that will see the semi, Bideford Dolphin, working in Norwegian waters.
Statoil has the option to extend the contract period from three to four years by November 1 this year.