Oslo-listed jackup rig pure-play Shelf Drilling has won a contract extension from Equinor for one of its rigs.
Equinor extended the contract of the Shelf Drilling Barsk jackup for operations at the Gudrun field located in the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The firm term of the extension is two wells with an estimated duration of 254 days in total. The contract extension also includes options for three wells at Gudrun.
In conjunction with this extension, Equinor also exercised the first option well at Sleipner Vest with an estimated minimum duration of 83 days. The contract value of the additional firm period excluding certain integrated services is approximately $81m.
The 2016-built rig, formerly known as Noble Lloyd Noble, won a contract for two firm wells with the Norwegian energy major back in April 2023.
The planned start-up of operations at the Sleipner Vest field under that deal is expected in May 2024 with an initial scope of two wells and an estimated duration of 270 days. Equinor had options for two wells with one now used up.
Earlier this month, Shelf Drilling received a notice of suspension of operations from an undisclosed Middle Eastern customer for four of its rigs. Although it was not specified which client it was, it points to Saudi Aramco as it is the only Middle Eastern client with four or more Shelf rigs working for it.
This was later confirmed by the Saudi giant going on a spree and suspending jackups from Borr, Arabian Drilling, ADES, and ARO Drilling.
