Maersk Gets Oz Ichthys Drilling Contract: Update
(Updates on Maersk Drilling Relaunch)
Maersk Drilling April 3 said that the ultra-deepwater semi-submersible Maersk Deliverer has been awarded a three-year contract by Inpex for drilling at the Ichthys gas and condensate field in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia.
The estimated contract value of the three-year contract is US$300mn, including mobilisation, it said. The contract is expected to commence in 2Q 2020 and includes two one-year options. Maersk Deliverer is currently operating offshore Timor-Leste.
The Ichthys field is about 220 km offshore Western Australia and covers an area of around 800 km2 in water averaging depths of around 250 meters.
It was discovered in 2000 and developed by Inpex in partnership with Total, Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Chubu Electric Power, Toho Gas, Kansai Electric Power and CPC.
Maersk relaunches as The Drilling Company 1972
Danish Maersk Drilling listed on the Danish Nasdaq stock exchange as The Drilling Company of 1972 (TDC 1972) April 4. It was spun off from AP Moller-Maersk, which is now wholly owned by French Total.
TDC owns and operates a fleet of 23 offshore rigs specialising in harsh environment and deepwater drilling operations.
Wood Mackenzie's upstream supply chain analyst Leslie Cook said that it would be an acquisition target and “while only a few of the large drilling companies – Transocean, Ensco, and Seadrill – have elected to make acquisitions in the past two years, we believe that TDC 1972 will be part of the consolidation narrative in the near term.”
Cook added: “The newly independent TDC 1972 is the strongest competitor among their mid-sized peers. Their floating rig utilisation is 75% (with six of their eight rigs working), while industry average for all floaters remains below 70%. The company recently announced a $300mn long-term contract with Inpex for the Maersk Deliverer semi-submersible. Average contract lengths for floating rigs in 2018 were about 200 days. The recent Maersk Deliverer contract is for 1,095 days.
“The company also holds a leading position in the ever-growing harsh environment jack-up market. Over 50% of their jack-ups are rated for harsh environment and they have more harsh environment jack-ups in their fleet than any other company,” Cook said.