Offshore drilling contractor Atwood Oceanics has sold one of its semi-submersible rigs for recycling and decided to idle another deepwater semi-sub in May.
According to the company’s latest fleet status report, the semi-submersible drilling rig Atwood Eagle is scheduled to be idled in May and, according to Atwood, it is being actively marketed. The rig is currently in transit to Singapore.
Atwood Eagle was supposed to be under a contract, with a dayrate of $450,000, with the Australian energy company Woodside until September 2016. However, in March 2016, the Australian company suspended the contract for Atwood Eagle and transferred it to Atwood’s other drilling rig, the Atwood Osprey.
As Atwood Osprey is currently under a contract with Chevron until July 2016, with a dayrate slashed from $445,000 to $340,000, Woodside will start using the rig upon completion of the rig’s current drilling program.
The Atwood Osprey end contract date with Woodside is set for January 2017 with a dayrate of approximately $450,000 which is, according to Atwood’s latest fleet status report, subject to change due to cost escalation and currency exchange provisions in the contract.
Atwood Eagle was built in 1982, and refurbished and upgraded in 2000 and 2003, respectively. The rig’s max water depth is 5,000 ft, and its max drilling depth is 25,000 ft.
Furthermore, the contract for the semi-sub Atwood Falcon with BHP Billiton Petroleum expired in March 2016 and the rig was sold for recycling purposes. The rig was operating offshore Australia under a dayrate of $430,000.
Atwood Falcon was built in 1983 and was rated to drill to 25,000 feet, in water depths up to 5,000 feet.
Offshore Energy Today Staff