Danish offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling has secured a one-well contract for the semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer offshore Egypt with an unnamed client.
The contract has an estimated duration of 21 days and is expected to start in March 2020, in direct continuation of the rig’s current contract. The contract value is approximately USD 3.8 million.
Morten Kelstrup, COO at Maersk Drilling said: "We’re pleased to add this additional well which firms up Maersk Discoverer’s schedule for 2020, meaning that the rig will have no idle time before moving to the Caribbean later this year."
Maersk Discoverer is a DSS-21 column-stabilized dynamically positioned semi-submersible drilling rig, delivered in 2009. It is currently operating offshore Egypt, where Edison in January used the rig to start drilling at its North Thekah concession offshore Egypt.
OEDigital reached out to Maersk to see if the contract was an extension of the one it had with Edison, or if the client was someone else.
"The added contract in Egypt is for a different operator, not Edison," a Maersk Drilling spokesperson said, without providing further details.
Following the completion of the additional Egyptian well, Maersk Discoverer will perform its scheduled Special Periodic Survey, after which the rig will move to Trinidad and Tobago where it will drill for BP, under a contract awarded in December 2019.
BP will use the offshore rig for development drilling at the Matapal project offshore Trinidad and Tobago.
The contract has an estimated duration of 322 days and is expected to start in July 2020.