Report: GDI sells one of its jack-up rigs for demolition

Qatari rig operator Gulf Drilling International (GDI), a subsidiary of Gulf International Services, has reportedly sold one of his rigs for demolition.

Illustration; Image by: Markus Harting; Source: Wikimedia - under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license
Illustration; Image by: Markus Harting; Source: Wikimedia – under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license

VesselsValue, a website providing global vessel and rig fleet valuations, said that GDI sold its Al Doha jack-up rig to an undisclosed Indian entity for demolition.

Per the website, the sale deal for the currently stacked Al Doha rig was agreed on Monday, January 28, 2019.

According to data provided by the website, the Al Doha was sold to the Indian company for more than $1,9 million. The sale price was 285 $/LDT of the rig with the Al Doha having a 6,714 LDT.

Worth noting, Bassoe Analytics puts the rig’s value at $0,5 to $1,5 million range, so if VVs data is correct, this means that GDI got a good price for the rig.

Data from Bassoe Analytics

Al Doha is a Mitsubishi MD T76J-VIII self-elevating cantilever jack-up drilling rig with three triangular independent legs. It was built in 1981 by Hiroshima Shipyard & Engine Works and originally named the Gulf-1. Major repair, modification and upgrade work on the rig was done by Nakilat – Keppel Offshore & Marine in 2011.

In the process of renaming all GDI offshore rigs to the names of the most popular and historical cities in Qatar, Gulf-1 name was changed to Al Doha, Qatar’s cultural and commercial center.

The last time Offshore Energy Today reported on the Al Doha in January 2017 when the jack-up rig began a contract with Qatar Petroleum.

The contract began on January 23, 2017, and was initially set to end in one year and four months. The deal was later extended and ended on October 22, 2018.

Unrelated to this rig sale, but related to Gulf Drilling International, it is worth noting that the company has this week reportedly signed new contracts for two jack-up rigs with Shell and North Oil Company. Read more on that here.