Shell snaps up Maersk rig for Trinidad drilling campaign
Danish contractor wins new deal to keep semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer on hire in the country until February 2022
Danish rig owner Maersk Drilling has secured a new contract for one of its semi-submersible units to keep it employed off Trinidad & Tobago until early next year after its current deal with BP.
Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell has agreed to charter the semisub Maersk Discoverer for a period of five months starting in September, Maersk said in its latest fleet report.
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Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Maersk Discoverer is already in Trinidad drilling development wells for BP at its Matapal natural gas project.
The rig, chartered for a dayrate of $242,000, is due to roll off contract with BP in August and will immediately head to work for Shell in the country until February 2022.
According to Oslo-based rig brokerage Bassoe Offshore, Shell intends to use the Maersk Discoverer for a one-well campaign that will last about 154 days.
Last year, Shell used the Transocean semisub Development Driller III for development drilling and well construction work on both the Barracuda and Colibri fields off Trinidad & Tobago.
The company had originally awarded Maersk a contract for the semisub Maersk Developer to use the two rigs in parallel at Barracuda and Colibri, but later axed the deal due to crewing difficulties and lower demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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