Seadrill Partners will use its West Capella drillship to drill four wells offshore Malaysia for an unnamed client in a deal worth about $43 million.
The contract is expected to start this month and will run to November 2021. The client will also have the option to drill up to seven more wells, the offshore drilling contractor said yesterday.
The West Capella, built in 2008, is a 6th generation ultra-deepwater drillship that was last year involved in a tense standoff with Chinese vessels at the rig’s location in waters claimed by Malaysia, Vietnam, and China. The West Capella was on hire with Malaysian national oil company (NOC) Petronas.
Seadrill’s fleet status report for Q4 2020 shows that the contract with the NOC was set to expire in May 2021, but that the drillship had extension options.
Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips will be on the hunt for a rig following the recent sinking of Velesto Energy’s jack-up drilling rig NAGA (dragon) 7 while working for the US giant off the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
Seadrill Partners, an affiliate of offshore drilling firm Seadrill, in December 2020 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move to restructure its debt.