Offshore drilling company Awilco Drilling has agreed to sell its WilPhoenix semi-submersible drilling rig to the UK-based P&A specialist Well-Safe Solutions Ltd.
Well-Safe will pay $15.5 million for the semi-sub built in 1982 and upgraded in 2011. The expected time of delivery of the rig is on or around June 1, 2022.
WilPhoenix is one of Awilco Drilling's two Enhanced Pacesetter semi-submersibles and is equipped for drilling in water depths up to 1,200 ft.
Awilco Drilling's other semi-submersible, the 1983-built WilHunter, which has been out of work for years, is in the process of being sold for recycling.
The rig has been cold stacked in Invergordon, Scotland, since 2016, without employment prospects. According to available info, the mid-water drilling rig last worked for Hess in 2015.
With the sale of the WilPhoenix and the expected recycling of the WilHunter, Awilco Drilling will no longer own any offshore drilling rigs.
Awilco had planned to upgrade its fleet with a couple of 7-gen semi-subs, ordered from Keppel in 2018 and 2019, and targeted for the Norwegian market. The orders have since been canceled, and Keppel and Awilco are currently involved in arbitration cases over the order cancellations.
As for the buyer of the WilPhoenix, Well-Safe Solutions, this will be the second semi-submersible rig in its fleet after the company in 2019 bought the Ocean Guardian semisubmersible drilling unit from Diamond Offshore, and converted it into a plugging and abandonment rig.
Well-Safe Solutions has confirmed that the WilPhoenix - to be renamed Well-Safe Defender - would be optimized for future well plug and abandonment (P&A) activity, too.
According to the offshore well-decommissioning specialist, the rig acquisition is expected to create around 100 jobs in a variety of onshore and offshore roles, in addition to the 231 personnel already employed by Well-Safe Solutions.
Phil Milton, Chief Executive Officer at Well-Safe Solutions, said: "Strong demand for our other dedicated P&A semi-submersible rig, the Well-Safe Guardian, demonstrates a clear business case for the need for further specialized assets. We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Awilco Drilling to integrate this well-regarded asset into our portfolio.
Neil Ferguson, Operations Manager at Well-Safe Solutions, added: “The WilPhoenix has a strong track record and is the right candidate to undergo conversion for well P&A."
Apart from the two semi-submersibles, Well-Safe Solutions also owns the Well-Safe Protector jack-up rig.