US offshore drilling contractor Rowan Companies and Saudi Aramco have signed a deal to create a new offshore rig outfit. The new organization will be a 50/50 joint venture (JV) which will own, operate, and manage offshore drilling rigs in Saudi Arabia…
Repsol E&P sent an early termination notice to Rowan Companies last week, ending its contract for the Rowan Renaissance drillship effective immediately. “The company expects to continue to be paid by Repsol on a monthly basis through the original termination date of 22 April 2017…
BP Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT) started drilling at Amherstia, offshore Trinidad, using the newest addition to its fleet, the Joe Douglas 240C jackup, with expectations to drill up to four new wells. The Joe Douglas…
Rowan Companies has received two early termination notices this month, in addition to booking more work and selling one jackup. Image of a Rowan jackup, from Rowan. Cobalt International…
Cobalt International has agreed to terminate its long-term contract for the Rowan Reliance drillship. The drilling contract was originally due to terminate on 1 February 2018. Instead, it will now end on 31 March 2017. Cobalt says it…
Cobalt International Energy is setting Angola as its number one priority, as the Houston-based company disclosed a multimillion-dollar loss in Q2 2016 due to a dry well in the Gulf of Mexico. The Rowan Reliance drillship…
Rowan Companies is putting a jackup on stand by for Apache Corp., in addition to inking three rig extensions in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Norway, and Saudi Arabia, according to the company’s latest fleet report. The Rowan Gorilla VII…
Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas is to pay Rowan Companies US$215 million under an agreement to cut short a rig contract with immediate effect. Freeport had contracted to use the drillship Rowan Relentless up to June 2017. Rowan may also…
US-based explorer Kosmos Energy has agreed to farm-out a one third stake in its Block 42 contract area offshore Suriname to Hess. In return, Hess will fully fund the cost of a 6500sq km 3D seismic survey, expected to start in Q3 this year…
Ken Richardson and Ian Simpson, of ABS, review current deepwater drillship designs and technologies. Friede & Goldman’s DS3810 deepwater drillship design, which is being evaluated by ABS for AIP…
Malaysian state oil firm Petronas is due to start drilling offshore Suriname next month, the country's state oil firm says. Staatsolie says Petronas, with partner DEA, a German company, has lined up the Rowan Company's Ralph Coffman…
Ratings house Moody's issued a damning report on the health of some of the industry's top offshore drillers following a review. Out of six US offshore drilling companies, it has downgraded two by three notches, three companies' ratings…
EOG awarded Rowan a contract to utilize the Ralph Coffman jackup, offshore Trinidad. The rig will mobilize from the US Gulf of Mexico and is estimated to commence operations in Q3 2016 for five wells with an estimated duration of one year at a rate of US$135…
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has granted ConocoPhillips consent to use the Rowan Norway mobile drilling facility for plugging and abandonment of wells at Ekofisk 2/4 B. Ekofisk is an oil field lying in 70-75m of water in the southern North Sea…
Rowan Companies retired two of its 32 offshore drilling rigs from service — the Rowan Alaska and Rowan Juneau — effective as of 1 July 2015. The company entered into contracts for sale of the rigs with an expected closing by the end of the month…