Offshore drilling company Diamond Offshore Drilling has secured a contract for its Ocean Apex rig with Inpex in Australia. Inpex, based in Japan, will use the rig on the Northwest Shelf of Australia.
The new contract covers two wells and is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2023 in direct continuation of the rig’s prior contract.
Diamond Offshore Drilling said that and combined with previous awards recently announced, results in the Ocean Apex being fully contracted in Australia until late 2024.
According to Diamond Offshore's fleet status report released Wednesday, the rig is currently on a contract with Woodside. Chevron will take over the Ocean Apex from July 2023 until the fourth quarter of 2023, when the rig will go on the newly secured contract with Inpex.
Upon the expiration of the Inpex charter, the rig will go on a contract with Australia's Santos, starting in the second quarter of 2024, until the fourth quarter of 2024.
Diamond Offshore did not share the financial details.