Houston-based Hercules Offshore has signed a five-year drilling contract with Maersk Oil North Sea UK for a newbuild jackup rig to be owned and operated by Hercules Offshore. The new Friede & Goldman JU-2000E design jackup will be built…
Brazilian independent HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA announced plans to focus on the offshore Polvo field, in the Campos basin. HRT operates the field with 60% interest along with partner Maersk (40%). In 4Q 2013, the National Petroleum Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP)…
A subsidiary of Genel Energy is preparing to start drilling the Hagar Qim-1 well offshore Malta after the rig for the program was accepted under contract. The Noble Paul Romano (pictured) set sail for Block 7, in Area 4 offshore Malta…
Drilling rig giant Transocean says it has picked up new contracts worth about US$953 million since 17 April. Giving its fleet update report, the firm said other highlights include: Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 drillship - Awarded a three year contract offshore Brazil at a dayrate of $440…
UK-based drilling rig operator Awilco says the UK North Sea floating drilling rig market is close to sold out until mid-2015. Announcing its Q1 results, the firm said due to the sustained “high” oil price and increased operator financial discipline…
CIMC Raffles at Yantai delivered the jackup rig Gulf Driller No.1 to ship owner COSL, the company announced 10 May 2014. CIMC Raffles said the jackup is expected to set out for the Bohai gulf. The Super M2 jackup rig was designed by…
Oerlikon Fairfield will market two new jacking drives, its S1500 and its S500, at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) May 5-8 at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. With the addition of these two models, Oerlikon Fairfield now has a…
Three newbuild jackups based on the XL Enhanced design will hit the market in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Photo from Maersk Drilling. A number of rig providers are increasing their fleet with builds over the next three years…
Drydocks World has completed a major repair and refurbishment of National Drilling Company’s (NDC) jackup drilling rig Al Ittihad. The company has carried out maintenance work on several of NDC’s rigs and the numbers have increased over the years…
Boskalis said that salvage work to remove a capsized jackup from shallow waters near Angola's new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant should be completed by March 2015. The three-legged Perro Negro 6 jackup drilling rig (shown at…
Ensco plc sold its ENSCO 85 jackup rig for $64 million, the company announced on 24 April 2014. The sale is part of trend among jackup rig providers including Transocean, Maersk Drilling, Noble, and Seadrill to modinize their fleets (See 'Jackups on the rise' in OE May 2014)…
Pemex has contracted with Houston-based Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. for an additional semisubmersible drilling rig, according to DODI's fleet status report issued yesterday. The Ocean Ambassador semisub, built in 1975, is rated to work in 1100ft water depth…
Cyprus-based Songa Offshore SE, an international midwater drilling contractor active in the North Atlantic basin, has chosen to deploy IFS Applications for Offshore Service to support its onshore and offshore operations. The contract includes…
A slowdown in 2014 drilling will be short-lived, according to Noble Corporation, which posted growing margins thanks to its expanding fleet, with another four units due for delivery by the end of 2014. Noble’s chairman, president and CEO…
Baker Hughes has announced its weekly rig count for the US and Canada. US: The US Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 1831, with oil rigs down 7 to 1510, gas rigs up 6 to 316, and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to 5. US Rig Count increased by 73 rigs from last year to 1758…
