Seadrill hit with early termination notice of rig contract by BP

Offshore drilling contractor Seadrill Partners has received early termination notice from BP for the West Capricorn rig contract approximately three months ahead of schedule.

Seadrill said in a statement on Thursday that the contract for the West Capricorn rig was originally expected to run through late July 2019.

However, the company now expects the contract to conclude in late April 2019 after the current well is completed and the unit is demobilized.

According to Seadrill’s latest fleet status report, the West Capricorn rig has been under a contract in the Gulf of Mexico with BP since July 2017. The rig’s dayrate is $543,000.

Seadrill Partners will receive early termination payments over the original contract term and backlog is expected to decrease by $18 million.

“We continue to actively market the rig for deepwater and mid-water opportunities,” Seadrill concluded.

The West Capricorn is a 6th generation ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig built in 2011 by Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. The rig is of a Friede & Goldman ExD Millenium design.

The rig received the managed pressure drilling (MPD) notation from ABS last July. ABS said at the time that the West Capricorn was the first column stabilized drilling unit to receive the ABS MPD notation complete with the Maltese Cross, which denoted survey attendance from vendor fabrication to onboard installation.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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