“We believe that the contract reflects a sustainable price level for this type of drilling rig,” says Anders Opedal, senior vice president for procurement in Statoil. “The contract also serves to strengthen further our cooperation with Seadrill.”
Statoil signed a five-year contract with Seadrill for a newly built drilling rig, for use on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The contract is worth around USD 650 million.
The jack-up drilling rig is a Gusto MSC CJ70 150A and is at present under construction at the Jurong yard in Singapore.
Plans call for the rig to start operating on the NCS in the third quarter of 2011. Statoil has an option to extend the contract for one to four years under the same terms as this contract.
Compared with previous generations, this rig has larger capacity with regard to deck load and operating efficiency. It also offers new opportunities in logistics, well-testing and early production. The rig will be used in water depths of up to 150 metres.