2014-built rig kicks off its five-year Asian drilling gig

October 20, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Singapore’s tender-assisted drilling provider Energy Drilling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyprus-headquartered SED Energy Holdings, has confirmed the start of its 11-year-old rig’s drilling assignment with Thailand’s national oil and gas company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP).

SED Energy claims that the 2014-built EDrill-2 tender-assist drilling rig, owned by its wholly owned subsidiary Energy Drilling, has begun operations under its previously announced five-year contract with PTTEP, after mobilizing to the Gulf of Thailand, following what the firm describes as the unit’s timely and on-budget completion of preparatory work in Singapore.

Marcus Chew, CEO of Energy Drilling, commented: “We are very pleased to see EDrill-2 on location and commencing operations. I want to thank our offshore crews and onshore teams for their dedication and professionalism in ensuring a safe, efficient, and on-schedule start-up. We look forward to supporting PTTEP over the coming years and consistently meeting their expectations for high performance and reliability.”

With a firm duration of five years, this rig contract, which comes with an additional three-year optional period, includes a rate adjustment clause based on a market index, applicable during the final two years of the firm period and throughout the optional period. The total potential value of the contract is estimated at $250 million, assuming full exercise of the optional period and favorable index adjustments.

Kurt M. Waldeland, CEO of Energy Holdings, highlighted: “The start of operations for EDrill-2 marks an important step in delivering on our strategy. With all rigs fully contracted, we continue to deliver strong earnings visibility, supporting sustainable cash generation and attractive shareholder distributions.”

The start-up of this drilling job comes shortly after another Energy Drilling’s rig wrapped up the JENGKA-D (JKD) drilling campaign in the Gulf of Thailand, which forms part of the Phase-6 Development at the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (MTJDA).

With one 271-day job done, Singaporean player’s rig preps for new Gulf of Thailand campaign

Exploration & Production

PTEEP is set on searching for more oil and gas, as illustrated by a deal with Velesto for the Thai firm’s 2025–2026 drilling campaign in Malaysia, which enables NAGA 5 jack-up rig drill 15 wells.