PTTEP books Energy Drilling’s rig for offshore campaign

July 4, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Singapore’s tender-assisted drilling provider Energy Drilling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyprus-headquartered SED Energy Holdings, has signed a multi-year contract with Thailand’s national oil and gas company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) for a rig to be used for an offshore drilling campaign.

The five-year contract comes with an additional three-year option, and is scheduled to start in October 2025. Energy Drilling expects it to contribute significantly to its parent company’s backlog and earnings visibility. If all options are exercised, the contract value is slated to amount to $250 million.

SED Energy Holdings was known as SeaBird Exploration until recently, when it changed its name following the merger with Energy Drilling, which was announced in February.

“We are honored to continue our long-standing relationship with PTTEP and grateful for their continued trust in our team and our assets. This contract is a strong testament to the performance of EDrill-2 and our crews,” said Marcus Chew, CEO of Energy Drilling.

The 2014-built tender-assist drilling rig EDrill-2 is set to be used for the campaign.

“This long-term contract with a leading regional operator further strengthens our position in the Southeast Asian offshore drilling market. It also adds to our already strong revenue backlog, enhancing our capacity to deliver sustainable cash flows and attractive shareholder distributions over the next several years,” added Kurt. M. Waldeland, CEO of Energy Holdings.

Earlier this month, PTTEP tapped Velesto for its 2025–2026 drilling campaign in Malaysia. The deal will see NAGA 5 jack-up rig drill 15 wells with operations scheduled to begin in June 2025.