Velesto confirms ongoing drilling gig for jack-up rig

Malaysian rig owner Velesto has secured work with an estimated combined contract value of $13 million for one of its jack-up rigs with a subsidiary of Thailand’s national oil company PTTEP for drilling operations in Malaysia. While this deal started five months ago, the firm did not get the green light to disclose it until today.

According to Velesto Energy’s Bursa Malaysia announcement, Velesto Drilling – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Velesto Malaysian Ventures, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Velesto Energy – has received a Letter of Award from PTTEP HK Offshore Limited, PTTEP Sabah Oil Limited, and PTTEP Sarawak Oil Limited – collectively be referred as PTTEP – for the provision of the NAGA 3 jack-up drilling rig.

The rig, which was designed by GustoMSC and built by Drydocks World SE Asia, started this two-well drilling job, which is part of PTTEP’s 2022-2023 exploration drilling programme, in February 2023. NAGA 3 is a premium independent-leg cantilever jack-up rig with a drilling depth capability of 30,000 feet. The rig has a rated operating water depth of 350 feet.

This deal comes a month after Velesto revealed a deal with an estimated combined contract value of $10.9 million for another one of its jack-up rigs with Vestigo Petroleum, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Petronas Carigali. This follows the assignment for three rigs, which were hired by Petronas Carigali for operations in Malaysia.