Spanish major Repsol has chartered a Maersk Drilling-owned rig as it looks to start an exploration well programme in Mexico’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico early next year.

The company has taken the seventh-generation drillship Maersk Valiant for two firm wells, with the charter expected to last around 138 days, the Danish rig owner said this week. The wells will be drilled in blocks 10 and 29, two tracts that Repsol won in Mexico’s second deep-water licensing round, Round 2.4,