Offshore drilling rig owner Aquadrill said Thursday it had extended a charter-hire deal with drilling firm Diamond Offshore for its Vela drillship.
The Vela drillship will be provided to an end client in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for a 150-day drilling contract as part of the extension. The contract is worth around $60 million. The Vela is an MPD-equipped 7th generation drillship.
"The terms of the charter hire agreement are consistent with the current management services agreements in place between [Aquadrill] and [Diamond Offshore, as the rig's manager]. The company did not say who the end client was, but Diamond Offshore's fleet status report shows the client to be BP, with the contract running from March 2023 to August 2023.
Aquadrill - ex-Seadrill Partners - said that the resulting financial benefits for the company were as if Aquadrill had entered into the drilling contract directly.
As previously reported, Aquadrill and Diamond Offshore announced in September a 225-day Vela charter hire extension starting in mid-January and expiring in August 2023 with Beacon Offshore in the U.S. This contract has now been amended, as explained by Aquadrill.
Aquadrill said Wednesday: "Concurrent with extending the charter hire for this new [150-day] work scope, an agreement to suspend the underlying drilling contract related to the charter hire for the rig running from January to August 2023 has been entered into."
"This contract will be suspended after the first quarter, and the new 150 day work scope will commence in direct continuation. The rig is expected to return to the initial underlying drilling contract in August 2023 and continue with the remaining firm work plus options if exercised."
The Vela, previously known as the West Vela, is a sixth-generation drillship with operational history in the U.S Gulf of Mexico. It was built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea in 2013.