Norwegian oil giant Statoil has this week hired six large anchor handlers for two Odfjell Drilling rig moves and one Saipem rig prelay.
According to Westshore, a Norwegian shipbroking agency, Statoil has chartered Havila Shipping’s Havila Jupiter, Solstad’s REM Gamblers, Olympic’s Olympic Zeus, Farstad’s Far Sapphire, and K Line’s KL Saltfojrd and KL Sandefjord.
As confirmed to Offshore Energy Today by Westshore’s Alexander Albert four fixtures are for rig move of the Deepsea Bergen semi-submersible drilling rig,one for Deepsea Atlantic semi-submersible drilling rig, as well as prelay of Scarabeo 5 semisub.
The rates are in the range of 180-210 thousand Norwegian crowns. The charters are for two weeks each.
Asked about the rates that seem a bit higher compared to several previous spot deals shared on Westshore’s website, Albert said:
“Market is tighter in Norway, and generally you could say there is more quality tonnage on this side, compared to the UK market, hence a tendency for higher rates.
Last fixtures on the UK side are concluded in the GBP 9-14.000 range (rig move of Ocean Patriot).
“The winter months are usually a time with higher fixture levels than what we see this year, however, weather has caused delays offshore and market has been rather slow.”
The rigs
According to available information, Statoil will use the Deepsea Bergen rig for the to drill the Mim exploration well in the Norwegian Sea. The company is expected to start drilling in January, and the operation will last 27 days. A possible sidetrack from the well will take a further 18 days.
As for the Deepsea Atlantic, Statoil is using the semi-submersible drilling rig for appraisal drilling on its Johan Sverdrup field in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.
Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Statoil seeking more details about the rig moves. We will update the article when and if we get a response.
Offshore Energy Today Staff