A 3-year, US $649 million contract has been awarded to Denmark’s Maersk Drilling for its newbuild drillship Deepwater Advanced 2.
Five of the company’s seven newbuild drilling units have now secured contracts, the contractor said in a press statement. The new award by ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil is for the second ultra-deepwater drillship in a series of four identical drillships Maersk Drilling currently has under construction.
The estimated total contract value is $694 million including mobilization but excluding cost escalation compensation. The contract duration is three years, with options for up to an additional two years and commencement of operations is expected by mid-2014 upon delivery from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, mobilization to the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM), and acceptance testing. The drillship will be equipped with two blowout preventers (BOPs).
The unit will be used by ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil for their respective drilling programs in the deepwater (GoM).
Maersk Drilling’s ultra-deepwater semisubmersible Mærsk Developer is already operating in the GoM, while in June the company secured a contract for its first drillship under construction with commencement in the GoM expected by the end of 2013.
