Two more years for Shelf Drilling’s 42-year-old jack-up rig in Gulf of Suez

Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has won a contract extension for a jack-up rig working on an assignment in the Gulf of Suez off the coast of Egypt with Gemsa Petroleum Company (Gempetco).

Shelf Drilling claims that the two-year contract extension for the Rig 141 jack-up has been secured in direct continuation of the rig’s current term with Gempetco for operations in the Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt. While the total estimated value for the contract extension is approximately $51 million, one year of this extension will be farmed out to Petrogulf Misr.

Thanks to this extension, the rig is expected to become available in February 2026. The 1982-built Rig 141 Marathon LeTourneau 82-SD-C 250-foot jack-up rig can accommodate 100 people. As of December 31, 2023, Shelf Drilling’s contracted backlog was $2.3 billion with 35 of 36 rigs under contract, representing a marketed utilization of 97%.

The rig owner’s Shelf Drilling Perseverance jack-up rig secured a 12-well contract with PetroVietnam Domestic Exploration Production Operating Company Limited (PVEP POC) in Vietnam for a firm term of around 16 months with a contract value of about $73 million. The rig is mobilizing from the UK and will undergo contract preparation in Singapore. The expected start date for this assignment is July 2024.

As the company’s Shelf Drilling Barsk jack-up rig has completed its contract with Equinor under a bareboat charter, the rig is currently undergoing contract preparation in Norway ahead of its new contract, which is anticipated to start in May 2024. Shelf Drilling’s Baltic jack-up rig secured a three-well contract in Nigeria for a firm term of approximately 70 days at a total value of $10 million with an expected commencement date in April 2024.

While the Trident 16 jack-up rig completed its contract with Petrobel in Egypt in February 2024 and is now available and marketed for opportunities, the Trident II jack-up rig has wrapped up an OOS project in the UAE. The jack-up is slated to kick off its new three-year contract with ONGC in India this month.