STATOIL has signed a letter of intent with Songa Offshore for the long-term hire of the Songa Dee semi-submersible rig to drill on the prolific North Sea Gullfaks field. The contract value is some $378million.
The three years’ firm with a one-year option deal has been secured at a dayrate of $345,000. The rig is scheduled to start the contract in August 2011, subject to there not being slippage with prior commitments..
The semi-submersible will be used for drilling and completing production wells, and is expected to quickly contribute to the field’s output once drilling starts.
Torstein Hole, senior VP for Statoil’s operations west cluster, said Gullfaks has considerable remaining resources and it was therefore strategically sensible to take-on a rig long-term in order to secure the prize.
“Securing important drilling capacity on the field for the next three years, this agreement allows us to implement several measures to improve the Gullfaks oil recovery,” said Mr Hole.
“The drilling operations will increase the field’s production volumes from 2012, which will strongly boost the recovery rate from the field.”
The rig is currently drilling for Marathon/Lundin and should be released Q3 2011.