Asia Offshore Drilling Limited (AOD) has secured a drilling contract extension for a jack-up drilling rig AOD III with Saudi Aramco, off Saudi Arabia, but with a reduced dayrate.
AOD is a partnership venture between Mermaid and Seadrill where Mermaid has 3.76 percent equity stake while the other 66.24 percent equity is owned by Seadrill.
In July 2016, Saudi Aramco awarded two three-year contract extensions to AOD’s other two jack-up rigs, the AOD I and AOD II, and started negotiations with AOD for the third rig. The contracts for these two rigs are expiring in June 2019 and July 2019, respectively.
Mermaid informed on Tuesday that, after negotiations with the client, AOD was awarded the extension of the drilling contract for the third rig until December 31, 2016. The rig has been working for Saudi Aramco since its delivery in 2013 and its current contract is expiring in October. The extension is in direct continuation of the current contract and is expected to add approximately $8.4 million in additional contract backlog.
The company noted that the extension is at a reduced dayrate in order to “remain competitive in this challenging business environment”.
Offshore Energy Today Staff