Danish offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling has secured a one-well contract for the ultra-harsh environment jack-up rig Maersk Interceptor with MOL Norge.
According to Maersk Drilling’s statement on Monday, MOL Norge hired the rig for exploration drilling on PL617 in the Southern North Sea. The license is operated by MOL Norge, a Norwegian unit of Hungarian’s MOL Group, in partnership with Wintershall Dea and OMV Norge.
The estimated contract value is $16.5 million. The contract is expected to start in August 2020, with an estimated duration of 60 days.
“We are happy to be working together with MOL on this exploration campaign with exciting prospects. Our XLE rigs have an excellent track record of delivering high-efficiency drilling on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and we expect to build on this in our first direct collaboration with MOL,” said Morten Kelstrup , COO of Maersk Drilling.
The Maersk Interceptor is an ultra-harsh environment CJ70 XLE jack-up, designed for year-round operations in the North Sea. It was delivered in 2013 and is currently operating offshore Norway.
The rig has recently drilled an exploration well in the North Sea for Aker BP . The well was a minor oil discovery. The rig is now scheduled to drill development wells in production license 001 B on the Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea, where Aker BP is also the operator.