Offshore drilling contractor Odfjell Drilling announced it has signed an amendment with Aker BP ASA which extends the firm contract for the Deepsea Nordkapp until the end of 2026.
The Deepsea Nordkapp—a sixth generation dynamically positioned harsh environment and winterized semi-submersible of Moss enhanced CS 60E design—has been working with our alliance partner Aker BP since its delivery in 2019.
The extended term shall commence on January 1, 2025 in direct continuation of the current firm contract period and run for a fixed duration of two years.
The two additional years are compensated on a market-based rate mechanism, Odfjell Drilling said. As previously agreed in 2022, the contract value for 2025 has a floor and ceiling day rate, resulting in a contract value of $124 million to $146 million, where the ceiling of the day rate range shall be adjusted annually based on an inflation formula. The contract value for 2026 is approximately $179 million which shall also be adjusted annually based on an inflation formula.
In addition to the market based day rates, Aker BP shall pay performance and fuel savings incentive bonuses. The contract extension is subject to license partner approval.
In addition to the extended firm duration, the contract now includes rolling one-year un-priced optional periods, the price of which shall be based on market rates set in advance of each respective optional year.
Kjetil Gjersdal, CEO of Odfjell Drilling, said, “We are pleased to be extending our contract with Aker BP, with whom the Deepsea Nordkapp has been working with since its delivery in 2019. Together with our Alliance model and its focus on collaboration and innovation, we foresee Odfjell Drilling and Aker BP continuing to set new performance benchmarks and provide safe and efficient operations with the Deepsea Nordkapp for many years to come.
“With this extension, our owned fleet is further secured with firm backlog from 2024 and beyond at increasing day rates. In addition, the rolling optionality mechanism will continue to give opportunity to further extend this backlog at market rates.”