Maersk Drilling has been awarded a one-well contract from a subsidiary of Petronas, PC Gabon Upstream S.A., for the provision of a deepwater drillship to drill an ultra-deepwater exploration well at approximately 2,100m water depth in Block F13 offshore Gabon.

The contract with PCGUSA is to start in the third quarter of 2021, in direct continuation of the rig’s previous work scope with Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), with an estimated duration of sixty (60) days. The contract value is approximately $24 million, including mobilisation and demobilisation fees.

The contract with KNOC was awarded in February 2020 and it is due to start in June 2021.

The COO of Maersk Drilling, Morten Kelstrup, said: “We’re delighted to expand our international relationship with Petronas, with whom we have worked on deepwater wells in the Far East, the Americas and now West Africa. We’re looking forward to conducting our first-ever campaign in Gabon.”

The 7th generation drillship, Maersk Viking, is a high-spec ultra-deepwater drillship that was delivered in 2013.

The drillship is currently operating offshore Brunei Darussalam for Shell. It was first awarded a one-well contract from Shell to drill one deepwater exploration well offshore Brunei Darussalam in November 2020, before being be awarded a one-well contract extension, also in Brunei, less than a week after the first contract.

After the completion of the contract with PCGUSA, the rig will move on to start the previously announced four-well contract with Shell Malaysia.

In April 2021, Shell awarded a contract to the Maersk Viking drillship to drill four development wells at the Gumusut-Kakap project offshore Malaysia.

ABOUT MAERSK DRILLING

Established in 1972, Maersk Drilling is a drilling-rig operator based in Lyngby, Denmark. The company is a Nasdaq Copenhagen–listed company with the ticket name ‘DRLCO’.