Equinor has awarded a two-year firm contract to Northern Ocean Wind to employ the mobile rig Deepsea Bollsta, operated by Odfjell Drilling, on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The contract value for the firm period is calculated at around $335 million, with planned start-up in the later part of 2025. The contract also includes five one-year options.
Northern Ocean Wind is a company owned by Northern Ocean. Deepsea Bollsta will be operated by Odfjell Drilling.
It currently operates three rigs for Equinor, Deepsea Aberdeen, Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Stavanger.
Currently, the rig is in Africa and has been drilling in Namibia but has previous track-record for operations in Norway.
Deepsea Bollsta is a sixth-generation harsh environment, winterized, mobile rig.
The contract value does not include integrated rig services or mobilisation/demobilisation fees.
Equinor has drilling facilities on 17 of its operated platforms on the Norwegian continental shelf, including Johan Sverdrup, Snorre A and B, Statfjord A, B and C, Oseberg A, B and C, Heidrun, Njord, Gullfaks A, B and C, Kvitebjørn, Sleipner A, and Visund.
The company currently has seven floating rigs on contract for work on the Norwegian continental shelf - COSLPromoter, Deepsea Atlantic, Deepsea Aberdeen, Deepsea Stavanger, Transocean Enabler, Transocean Encourage, Transocean Spitsbergen.
Equinor currently has three jack-up rigs on contract for work on the Norwegian continental shelf - Askeladden (Gullfaks owned), Askepott (Gullfaks owned), and Barsk (Shelf Drilling owned).
“We have an ambition to maintain our production from the Norwegian continental shelf at a high level towards 2035, supplying the energy that Europe demands. Our ability to continuously drill new wells is at the heart of this.
"There is still a large remaining resource potential in our producing fields. We also see attractive exploration opportunities in Norway,” said Kjetil Hove, executive vice president for Exploration and Production Norway (EPN).
“This will add flexible capacity to our drilling portfolio. On average we have 25 active drilling operations on the Norwegian continental shelf. Rig capacity is important for us, we plan to deliver 50-70 increased recovery wells and 20-30 exploration wells annually going forward,” added Erik Kirkemo, senior vice president for Drilling and Well.