Contract Awards

$380MM Brazil Drilling Contract Goes to Seadrill

Equinor Brasil Energia Ltda has awarded Seadrill Limited a four-year firm contract for the West Saturn drillship for work on the Bacalhau field in Brazil, Seadrill reported.

Seadrill estimates the firm portion of the contract, which includes four one-year options, at approximately $380 million. The drilling contractor noted the total value includes mobilisation, upgrades, and integrated services revenue and a performance bonus. To be sure, it added the total value hinges on the final investment decision by Equinor and its Bacalhau partners.

Equinor’s partners in the pre-salt Santos Basin field include Exxon Mobil Corp. and Petrogal Brasil.

“This announcement is an exciting new contract that builds on Seadrill’s years of experience as a global player of scale and footprint,” remarked Seadrill CEO Stuart Jackson. “The West Saturn is a true example of a modern, state-of-the-art drillship and showcases the best of Seadrill: our commitment to continuous innovation and our accomplished team.”

Seadrill noted the West Saturn, which already boasts the company’s managed pressure drilling system, will receive further safety, efficiency, and environmental control upgrades in consultation with Equinor and its partners. Moreover, the drilling contractor noted that it expects to cut the drillship’s fuel consumption by 1015% by introducing a combined hydrogen and methanol injection system and other upgrades.

According to Seadrill’s most recent fleet status report (Fourth Quarter 2020), West Saturn is contracted to ExxonMobil offshore Brazil until this November.

“We are thrilled to announce the new contract with Equinor,” commented Matt Lyne, senior vice president of commercial with Seadrill. “It’s been a challenging period for the industry and our longstanding client relationship has been a significant contributor in the award of this new four-year contract, which could last up to eight years if all options are exercised. Brazil is undeniably one of the most important deepwater oil and gas basins in the world and we look forward to playing our role in the future of the industry in this key region.”

Assuming the Bacalhau partners go forward with the development, Seadrill stated that it expects the West Saturn contract to commence in the first quarter of 2022.

Key jacket foundation contract awarded

Harland & Wolff has been awarded a contract by Saipem Limited for the fabrication and load-out of eight wind turbine generator (WTG) jacket foundations.

The jacket foundations will service the EDF Renewables and ESB owned Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Farm project located in the outer Firth of Forth in Scotland. The contract schedule is due to commence from 1 July 2021 and is anticipated to create around 290 direct and indirect jobs. The works for fabrication, consolidation and load-out of the eight WTG jacket foundations will principally be conducted at Harland and Wolff’s newly acquired Methil facilities in Scotland. Should there be an opportunity to further optimise the works programme and make the contract more cost-effective, Harland & Wolff and Saipem will work jointly to spread additional workstreams within the contract across its three other sites in Belfast, Arnish and Appledore. Commenting on the announcement RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Melanie Onn said:

"It's great to see an iconic company like Harland & Wolff creating 290 Scottish jobs with a big contract to manufacture steel foundations for a major Scottish offshore wind farm, especially as this will take place at the former BiFab site at Methil in Fife generating new opportunities there.

“This is another example of how the UK's offshore wind supply chain is a key part of the green industrial revolution which will play a leading role in the UK's economic recovery after the pandemic.

“Our world-leading industry is stepping up fast to quadruple the UK's current offshore wind capacity by 2030, which offers significant supply chain opportunities. By the end of the decade, offshore wind alone will be providing well over a third of the UK's electricity - a huge step towards the UK's net zero emissions goal as well as generating massive economic growth".

Harland & Wolff’s four sites offer a combined footprint of over 334.6 hectares, with well over 72,000m² of undercover fabrication capacity.

Harland & Wolff is a wholly-owned subsidiary of InfraStrata plc (AIM: INFA), a London Stock Exchange-listed firm focused on strategic infrastructure projects and physical asset lifecycle management.

Worley Wins Services Contract for Phillips 66 Renewable Fuels Project

Worley has been awarded a front-end engineering services contract on April 15 by Phillips 66 to convert its San Francisco refinery in Rodeo, California, into a renewable fuels-manufacturing facility.

The project will reconfigure the refinery and produce up to 650 million gallons per year of renewable transportation fuels from used cooking oils, fats, greases and vegetable oils. Once built, the renewable fuels facility is expected to be one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind.

Under the contract, Worley will provide FEED services for the facility, which will be executed by Worley’s North America West team with support from Worley’s Global Integrated Delivery team.

“As a global company headquartered in Australia, this project aligns with our strategic focus on sustainability and delivering a more sustainable world,” Chris Ashton, CEO of Worley, said. “We are pleased that Phillips 66 has engaged Worley in this important renewable fuels project and look forward to supporting Phillips 66’s energy transition goals, while also supporting Worley’s strategic focus on future fuels.”

Maersk Drilling hybrid rig awarded more work with Aker BP

Denmark’s Maersk Drilling has secured an additional one-well contract with Aker BP for the 2015-built jackup rig Maersk Integrator.

The firm $9.6m contract is in direct continuation of the rig’s previously announced work scope, and will see the Maersk Integrator drill an exploration well for Aker BP offshore Norway.

The work should commence in December 2021, with an estimated duration of 36 days.

The ultra-harsh environment jackup rig recently completed a series of upgrades to convert it to a hybrid, low-emission rig.

According to Maerks Drilling, in the first month of operations featuring identical upgrades, the sister rig Maersk Intrepid registered a very promising initial data point of reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by approximately 25% compared to the rig’s average baseline, along with NOx emissions reductions of approximately 95%. Maersk Integrator is contracted under the terms of the frame agreement that Maersk Drilling and Aker BP entered into in 2017 as part of the Aker BP Jack-up Alliance which also includes Halliburton. Contracts under the alliance are based on market-rate terms with incentive arrangement for all parties, based on actual delivery and performance.

Shelf Drilling lands three-year rig job in India

Petrofac extends Integrated Services for NEO Energy

Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has received a three-year contract for one of its jack-up drilling rigs with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in India.

Shelf Drilling said that the three-year contract had been awarded to the J.T. Angel jack-up rig for operations in the Mumbai High, offshore India.

The planned start-up of operations is in the fourth quarter of 2021. Shelf Drilling has not provided any further details about the rig’s new contract, including the day rate.

According to its fleet status report from March 2021, the rig has been under contract with ONGC from March 2018 until March 2021.

The 300-foot jack-up rig J.T. Angel is of a Friede & Goldman L-780 Model II design built in 1982.

Petrofac, the leading international service provider to the energy industry, announces today the early award of a one-year extension to its Integrated Services contract with NEO Energy.

The extension, awarded eight months ahead of the renewal date, takes Petrofac’s contract for operations, maintenance, engineering and construction support for NEO Energy’s UK activities, through to December 2022.

Petrofac supported the transition of operations on the Quad 15 & Flyndre area in 2020 following NEO Energy’s acquisition of the assets, and at the same time assumed responsibility for ongoing operations, maintenance, engineering and construction under its integrated delivery model. In July of the same year, under a separate two-year agreement, Petrofac’s well engineering team were selected by NEO Energy to provide Well Management and Well Operator support for 25 production wells across the Affleck, Balloch, Dumbarton, Flyndre and Lochranza fields.

Commenting, Nick Shorten, Managing Director for Petrofac in the Western Hemisphere, said: We are thrilled to continue our support of NEO Energy’s late life asset strategy and pursuit of topquartile uptime and efficiency. The early extension of our integrated services contract provides further endorsement of our ability to seamlessly deliver services across the asset lifecycle.