Esgian reviews that offshore drilling contractors secured extra backlog within the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, and Brazil and operators confirmed new discoveries in Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, and China in its Week 10 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.
Contracts
Diamond Offshore has executed a two-year contract extension with a subsidiary of bp within the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for the 12,000-ft drillship Ocean BlackHornet.
Shelf Drilling’s 250-ft jackup Rig 141 has secured a two-year contract extension in Egypt.
Shelf Drilling has secured a three-well contract with an undisclosed native operator in Nigeria for its idle 375-ft jackup Baltic.
Foresea’s 10,000-ft drillship, ODN II, has secured a 363-day contract extension with Petrobras to proceed operations within the Equatorial Margin.
Drilling Activity and Discoveries
Shell confirmed that it has spudded the Enigma 1-X exploration nicely on PEL 0039 offshore Namibia.
Operator Petronas and its associate ExxonMobil have signed a letter of settlement (LoA) with Suriname’s state oil firm Staatsolie for additional exploration on Block 52, following up from the pure fuel discovery made on the Sloanea-1 exploration nicely in 2020.
Beach Energy is seeking to drill a number of wells within the Otway Basin and Bass Basin offshore Australia. The firm has submitted an environmental plan to the Australian offshore security physique NOPSEMA, and the plan is now open for remark.
Harbour Energy has just lately made a small fuel discovery in Indonesia and shared future plans for the ten,000-ft drillship West Capella it’s utilizing to drill within the area.
Brazilian big Petrobras has began drilling the Joelho (1-BRSA-1391-ESS) wildcat in Block ES-M-596 within the Espírito Santo Basin.
Eni has made a “significant discovery” on block CI-205 offshore Côte d’Ivoire. The firm acknowledged that preliminary assessments of the Calao discovery indicated potential sources between 1 billion and 1.5 billion BOE.
China’s CNOOC has made a serious oilfield discovery of Kaiping South within the South China Sea, including over 100 million tonnes of oil equal proved in-place quantity.
Demand
In his Spring Budget 2024 speech, UK Chancellor of The Exchequer Jeremy Hunt stated that the sundown on the UK’s Energy Profits Levy could be prolonged for an extra 12 months to the top of March of 2029.
Following the UK authorities’s announcement concerning the extension of the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) on the oil and fuel producers within the nation, also referred to as the windfall tax, the business has expressed its disappointment with the choice, voicing considerations concerning the potential affect of this on investments within the sector.
Hartshead Resources is reviewing the venture economics and timeline related to its Phase 1 improvement plan (Somerville and Anning) within the UK North Sea, given the just lately proposed adjustments in taxation coverage from the UK Labour Party.
Rig Sales
Ocean Oilfield’s 150-ft jackup rig Dhabi II is presently being marketed for work or sale. Dhabi II was delivered from Baker Marine in 1981 as Sedco 160 and has predominantly labored within the UAE for ADNOC.
Mobilisation/Rig Moves
Diamond Offshore’s 3,000-ft semisub Ocean Patriot has mobilised from Invergordon, Scotland to the UK North Sea for a contract with Serica Energy.
ARO Drilling CEO Mohamed Hegazi acknowledged that the corporate’s 350-ft newbuild jackup Kingdom 2 is present process the ultimate levels of commissioning and is anticipated to be delivered and start work for Saudi Aramco in just a few weeks.
Eldorado Drilling has taken supply of the 12,000-ft drillship Zonda from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The newly-delivered rig is now en route from South Korea to Singapore, with arrival anticipated round 18 March 2024.
Thai oil and fuel firm PTTEP is about to maneuver the 400-ft jackup Noble Tom Prosser from a nicely web site offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, to Labuan anchorage. The jackup drilling rig will transfer from PTTEP’s Satong-1 nicely, Block SK405B, to Labuan anchorage beginning on 9 March till 13 March 2024.
Other News
APA Corporation and its companions CEPSA and Petronas have returned a part of Block 53 offshore Suriname to state owned firm Staatsolie.
Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has reported a loss and a lower in revenues within the final quarter of 2023 on account of decrease fleet utilisation.
Shelf Drilling is considering main out-of-service initiatives for 300-ft jackups J.T. Angel and Trident XII within the second half of 2024, if the rigs are awarded new three-year contracts in an ongoing tender with Indian state operator ONGC.
Speaking in the course of the firm’s This autumn 2023 convention name, executives at Shelf Drilling stated that they count on to safe a brand new contract for the 300-ft jackup Trident 16 earlier than the top of the second quarter of 2024.
