Hat-trick for Seadrill after third drillship deal this week

Offshore drilling firm Seadrill Partners has won a one-year deal for the West Polaris drillship in Southern Asia.

This is the third contract in as many days for Seadrill. Two of those contracts were awarded to the West Polaris.

Seadrill said on Friday that the value of the latest contract was expected to be around $72 million, including performance incentive and mobilization fees. Bassoe Analytics data suggests that the dayrate for the 366-day duration of the deal will be around $180,000.

According to the company, the one-year contract is set to begin in the first quarter of 2020. The name of the client was left undisclosed.

The first deal for the West Polaris was announced on Wednesday. According to Seadrill’s statement, the vessel was hired by PC Gabon Upstream for drilling operations in Gabon.

The one-well contract is expected to start in September, running to the end of 2019. The backlog is expected to be approximately $22 million, excluding mobilization fees. The dayrate, as per Bassoe Analytics, is set at around $180,000, based on a three-month term.

The West Polaris is the 6th generation, dynamically positioned drillship delivered from the Samsung shipyard in 2008. It is currently warm-stacked in the Canary Islands.

The second contract won by Seadrill this week was for the West Gemini drillship in West Africa for an unnamed client. The company secured a nine-well contract with three options, each for two wells.

The total contract value for the firm portion of the contract is expected to be approximately $84 million. It is expected to start in early 4Q 2019 and running through 4Q 2020. Bassoe Offshore estimates that the drillship’s dayrate for this gig will be around $185,000.

The West Gemini is a 6th generation ultra-deepwater drillship of a Samsung 10,000 design with operational history offshore Africa. It was built in 2010 by South Korean rig builder Samsung Heavy Industries.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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