The U.S. weekly offshore rig count is down by three rigs, according to a Friday report by the oilfield services provider, Baker Hughes. BHI Rig Count: U.S. +18 to 712 rigs U.S. Rig Count is up 18 rigs from last week to 712, with oil rigs up 15 to 566, gas rigs up 3 to […]
With over 70 ultra deepwater floating rigs stacked and waiting for contracts and over 20 newbuilds sitting virtually complete at shipyards under deferred delivery agreements, offshore rig reactivation risk stands in the way of market recovery, writes David Carter Shinn, a partner at Bassoe Offshore,
Norwegian oil company Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use the Songa Encourage rig for well activities at Norne field, Norne satellites, and Alve, off Norway. Statoil is the operator of the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea, west of Mo i Rana in Nordland count
Prosafe has secured a contract with Total to deploy one of its flotels to the UK North Sea. Under the agreement, Total E&P UK will hire the Safe Caledonia semi-submersible accommodation rig at the Elgin-Franklin offshore platform. The firm period of the contract is 134 days plus additional 30 days o
Odfjell Drilling has secured a one-well contract for the ultra-deepwater drillship, Deepsea Metro I. The drillship has been hired by Galoc Production Company W.L.L., a subsidiary of Nido Petroleum Limited, for drilling offshore Philippines. According to Odfjell, the Deepsea Metro I will be contracte
Offshore drilling contractor Dolphin Drilling, a subsidiary of Fred. Olsen Energy, has entered into a one-well contract extension with Statoil for use of the semi-submersible drilling rig Bideford Dolphin. The driller said on Tuesday that the contract is for operation on the Norwegian Continental Sh
Qatar Petroleum (QP) has chartered the Al Doha jack-up rig, owned by Qatari rig operator Gulf Drilling International (GDI), a subsidiary of Gulf International Services. According to data from VesselsValue, Qatar Petroleum hired GDI’s semi-sub rig for one year and four months starting January 23, 201
UK-based drilling contractor Ensco has agreed with a South Korean shipyard to postpone the delivery of a newbuild drillship by two years. Ensco recently entered into an amendment to the Ensco DS-10 drillship construction contract with the shipyard constructing it, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI). Ens
Drilling contractor Diamond Offshore has reportedly been awarded a contract with the Australian energy company BHP Billiton for the semi-submersible drilling rig Ocean Monarch. According to data from VesselsValue, BHP Billiton has hired Diamond Offshore’s semi-sub rig for a six-month contract starti
Danish drilling contractor Maersk Drilling has been awarded a new contract with Petrogas E&P Netherlands B.V. for the jack-up rig, Maersk Resolute. Maersk Drilling said on Monday that the firm contract covers the drilling of the two wells, A8 and A9 in the A12 block of the Dutch continental shelf. T
Irish oil and gas exploration company Providence Resources has been given consent to progress to the second phase of the Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 2/14 in the southern Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland. The FEL 2/14 drilling project lies in 2,250-meter water depth in the southern Porcupine
Cairn Energy started drilling the SNE-5 appraisal well, offshore Senegal, the first of two firm wells planed to further evaluate the SNE oilfield, on Saturday, January 21. Cairn recently said the 2017 drilling program off Senegal includes two new, firm wells. Cairn’s partners in three blocks offshor
North Atlantic Drilling Ltd (NADL) has been awarded a contract extension from Statoil for the jack-up rig West Elara. The offshore driller informed on Friday that the contract is for a firm one-well extension plus one optional well. The work will start in direct continuation of West Elara’s existing
Statoil has completed investigations of a well control incident on the offshore Troll field and a hydrogen leak at Mongstad, and revealed that the Troll incident could have been fatal. On October 15, 2016, a serious well control incident occurred off Norway on a drilling rig Songa Endurance, while i
