Drilling News


Shelf Drilling Finalizes Baltic Rig Sale

Sep 23, 2024

Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has closed the sale of its Baltic jack-up rig for $60 million with an undisclosed client.Shelf Drilling said the buyer intends to deploy the rig on a multi-year, plug and abandonment (P&A) program in Malaysia…

Esgian Week 38 Report: Contracting has Slowed

Sep 22, 2024

Esgian has no rig contracts to announced but provides an update on rig moves and drilling operations in the US Gulf of Mexico, Canada, Morocco and Norway in its Week 38 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryDrilling Activity and DiscoveriesExxonMobil…

Equinor Gets Permit for Norwegian Sea Drilling Operation

Sep 20, 2024

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has granted Equinor a drilling permit for a new exploration well in the Norwegian Sea, to be conducted using Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig.The permit is for wellbore 6406/6-7 S wildcat well in production license 1119…

Esgian Week 37 Report: New Contracts for Floating Rigs

Sep 15, 2024

Esgian provides an update on new contract awards for floating rigs in its Week 37 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsTransocean Ltd. has secured a 365-day contract for the 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Atlas with bp in the US GOM…

Offshore Driller Seadrill Has Its Sights Set on Asset Acquisitions, M&A

Sep 11, 2024

Offshore drilling contractor Seadrill is looking to buy more assets or create a larger player by merging with peers, the company's CEO said on Wednesday.Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen lost the control of the company, once the world's largest driller by market cap…

Archer Nets Long-Term Drilling Deal with OKEA

Sep 11, 2024

Oilfield services firm Archer has secured a new five-year platform drilling contract with OKEA for work at Brage development, offshore Norway.The new contract has an initial estimated value of $79 million (NOK 850) million over a firm five-year…

Equinor and Partners Make Gas Discovery in Norwegian Sea

Sep 10, 2024

Equinor and its partners have proven gas/condensate in a well in the Norwegian Sea, drilled in connection with the Lavrans discovery, which is currently undergoing development.The well 6406/2-L-2 H, located 260 kilometres southwest of Brønnøysund…

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Platforms Evacuated Ahead of Storm Francine

Sep 09, 2024

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas producers were evacuating staff and curbing drilling to prepare for Tropical Storm Francine on Monday as it churned through the energy region on a path to bring high winds and drenching rains to the U.S. mid-South…

Esgian Week 36 Report: New Contracts Awarded in India, Guyana and West Africa

Sep 08, 2024

Esgian provides an update on new contract awards for Greatship, Transocean, Noble and Stena Drilling in its Week 36 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsGreatship has secured a contract with Cairn for its 350-ft Greatdrill Chetna jackup drilling rig in India…

Constellation’s Alpha Star Gets Shell’s Brazil Job

Sep 06, 2024

Offshore drilling contractor Constellation has secured a new contract with Shell for its Alpha Star ultra-deepwater drilling rig offshore Brazil.The contract is for approximately 30 days, having started on August 30, 2024.The new contract will…

Talos Energy Strikes Oil and Gas in Gulf of Mexico

Sep 05, 2024

Talos Energy and its partners have discovered commercial quantities of oil and natural gas in the Ewing Bank 953 well in the Gulf of Mexico.The EW 953 well encountered approximately 127 feet of net pay in the target sand at approximately 19…

Noble Corporation Completes Diamond Offshore Acquisition

Sep 04, 2024

U.S.-based offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation on Wednesday announced it has completed its acquisition of peer Diamond Offshore Drilling. The merger creates the industry's largest fleet of 7th generation dual-BOP drillships and adds 4…

Esgian Week 35 Report: Petronas Plans Return to Mexico

Sep 01, 2024

Esgian provides an update on plans for Petronas to return to the deep waters off Mexico in its Week 35 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsMalaysia's Velesto said Monday it has secured a Letter of Award for its 350-ft jackup…

SLB Launches Carbon Storage Well Integrity Assessment Tool

Aug 27, 2024

SLB has launched a well integrity assessment solution that helps carbon storage developers quantify the risks associated with wells at prospective storage sites with previous drilling activity.Establishing secure storage sites is essential to…

Namibia: The Newest Most Promising Deepwater Rig Demand Hotspot

Aug 27, 2024

Over the past few years the Namibian Orange Basin has emerged as an exciting new oil province and subsequently a provider of significant new demand and future demand potential for deepwater drilling rigs.According to Westwood’s Wildcat, “the…

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