Parker Drilling bags 7-year contract on Hibernia, takes over from Paragon

Parker Drilling, a provider of contract drilling and drilling-related services, has reportedly been awarded a contract by Hibernia Management and Development Company (HMDC) for the drilling services on the Hibernia platform, offshore Canada.

Hibernia is an oil field in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 315 kilometres east-southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, in 80 m of water.

According to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News, Parker Drilling was awarded the contract for drilling services on the Hibernia platform for seven years starting from July 1, 2016. Parker Drilling will be taking over from Paragon Offshore which has held the contract for several years.

Namely, after its spin-off from Noble Corp. in 2014, the offshore drilling contractor Paragon became in charge of a labor contract under which the company was providing the personnel necessary to manage and perform the drilling operations from the drilling platform owned by the operator.

The Hibernia oil field began producing oil on November 17, 1997. The platform is 224 metres high, and it has three separate components, topsides, gravity base structure and offshore loading system.

Offshore Energy Today reached out to Parker Drilling seeking confirmation of this report as well as further details about the contract.

The spokesperson for Parker Drilling said: “We have been awarded the opportunity to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services of the Hibernia Platform owned by Hibernia Management Development Company and located offshore the Newfoundland and Labrador Province of Canada. We look forward to being part of the Hibernia Family where people want to work, grow and develop.”

The shareholders of Hibernia Management and Development Company are: ExxonMobil Canada (33.125%), Chevron Canada Resources (26.875%), Suncor (20%), Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation (8.5%), Murphy Oil (6.5%) and Statoil Canada Ltd. (5%).

The article has been updated with Parker Drilling’s statement. 

Offshore Energy Today Staff