Borr Drilling wins deals for three warm-stacked rigs

Offshore drilling rig owner Borr Drilling has won deals for three of its warm-stacked jack-up drilling rigs. The company claims increased activity levels.

Borr Drilling said on Monday that it entered into a contract and letters of intent for the three rigs, adding $21 million to the total backlog. The company added that it had “good prospects for additional backlog on these units“.

The offshore driller stated in its fleet status report shows that the letters of intent were signed for the Norve and the Prospector 1 rigs with undisclosed clients.

According to the fleet status, Norve should go on a contract in West Africa in the first quarter of 2021, while the Prospector 1 will start its contract in October 2020, which will end in January 2021.

Also, ExxonMobil and ROC Oil rescinded previously announced notices of early termination for three Borr Drilling rigs.

Namely, the companies now placed the rigs on suspension which will result in Borr Drilling getting some money for the rigs until they begin their contracts.

ExxonMobil rescinded notices of early termination for the Gerd and the Groa jack-ups and replaced them with a “suspension notice”. Borr Drilling did not provide details on contract provisions and start-up dates. The company did say that suspension payout is applicable under contract provisions.

The rigs were previously expected to work for ExxonMobil in Nigeria until April 2021 and May 2021, respectively.

As for ROC, it rescinded a notice of termination for the Mist jack-up and replaced it with a suspension notice. According to the fleet status’ schedule, it will start its ROC contract in Malaysia around September or October 2020.

Furthermore, Borr Drilling turned LOAs for the Saga and the Gunnlod rigs with Thailand’s PTTEP into contracts. Both will be deployed in Malaysia.

The Saga, which worked with Eni in Vietnam until July, will start its one-year contract with PTTEP in September 2020. The Gunnlod, stacked in Singapore, mobilize to Malaysia and begin work in September as well. Its deal will run until March 2021. Both rigs have extension options.

On a negative note, Centrica terminated the contract for the Ran rig effective July 2020.

In Monday’s statement, Borr said that the recent awards would bring the total number of committed and contracted rigs up to 14.

“The tender activity in the jack-up market troughed in March / April this year caused by the negative development in the oil price. There are now clear signs of increased activity levels, supported by an oil price of around $40/bbl“, the company said.

It is worth noting that the company has three more warm stacked rigs which it claimed could be brought into operation “without significant activation capex“.