Aquadrill Nets Two-well Offshore Drilling Deal in Indonesia

Offshore drilling firm Aquadrill - ex-Seadrill Partners - has secured a contract for its Capella drillship in Indonesia.

The MPD outfitted 6th generation drillship, managed by Vantage Holdings International, will drill two wells, with an option for two more. 

Built by Samsung Heavy Industries in 2008, the drilling rig will be contracted to Premier Oil Andaman Limited for one well and subcontracted to Repsol Andaman B.V for a second well, Aquadrill said.

The firm contract for the ultra-deepwater drillship is valued at around $42 million. In case the extension options are exercised, the additional contract value would be around $37 million. The extension would be with Premier Oil.

The contract is expected to start in Q1 2022, after the completion of the rig's current contract, transitioning the rig to the new Manager, relocation of the rig from Malaysia to Indonesia and contract preparation. The rig is currently managed by Seadrill Limited and is on a contract in Malaysia with the Thai oil company PTTEP.

The firm contract is expected to run into mid-Q3 2022. If the remaining options are exercised, the rig would become available in late Q4 2022 / early Q1 2023. 

While no details were shared on the exact projects the rig will be used at, Premier Oil's parent company Harbour Energy last month said preparations were also underway for the drilling of the Timpan-1 exploration well on its Andaman II license in Indonesia in the first half of 2022.

The Capella drillship, then known as West Capella, was last year involved in a month-long standoff when a Chinese seismic vessel was surveying near the drillship's location in waters claimed by Malaysia, Vietnam, and China. Reuters at the time reported that the drillship was on hire with Petronas, the Malaysian national oil company. 

 According to data from Wood Mackenzie, worldwide drillship fleet utilization in September 2021 was 82 percent, with 56 drillships on a contract, and 12 available.

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