Contract Extended for Maersk Drilling’s Newbuild Jackup

Det norske oljeselskap ASA (Det norske) has on behalf of the partners in the Ivar Aasen project, exercised its contractual right to extend the contract for the newbuild ultra harsh environment jack-up, XL Enhanced 2, by two years. The rig is currently under construction at the Keppel FELS shipyard in Singapore.

Commencement of drilling operation is scheduled for late 2014 following delivery of the rig from the shipyard and mobilisation to the North Sea. The rig will be used for drilling on the Ivar Aasen development in the Norwegian North Sea.

Consequently, the duration of the firm contract is now five years. The estimated value of the two-year contract extension is approximately USD 280 million, bringing the total estimated contract value to approximately USD 700 million. Det norske has options to extend the contract up to a total of seven years.

In December 2011, Det norske awarded Maersk Drilling a three year contract for the XL Enhanced 2 jack-up with options for Det norske to extend the contract up to a total of seven years. At that time the contract was subject to submission and subsequent approval by the Norwegian Government of the development plans for Ivar Aasen. On 21 May 2013, the Storting approved the development of Ivar Aasen. The Ivar Aasen field contains approximately 150 million barrels of oil equivalents.

The XL Enhanced 2 rig is the second of three XL Enhanced jack-ups ordered by Maersk Drilling in 2011 and 2012. The three rigs have delivery from yard in 2014 and 2015 and have all secured long term contracts. The XL Enhanced design is a further enhanced version of the existing ultra-harsh environment jack-ups Maersk Innovator and Maersk Inspirer. Like their sister rigs, the three new rigs are designed to operate in the harsh environment found in the North Sea and comply with all rules and regulations in the strictly regulated Norwegian sector.

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Press Release, June 7, 2013