Statoil calls off ‘Songa Trym’ contract

Songa Offshore, a Norwegian drilling contractor, has received a notice of cancellation of the drilling contract with Statoil for one of its semi-submersible drilling rigs, four months before the expiration of contract on March 4, 2016.

The cancellation for the 1976-built Songa Trym rig becomes effective when the current North Sea well, Tarvos, is completed, around November 12, 2015.

Songa Offshore said on Monday it would receive a contractual cancellation fee based on the current full day rate of $377,000 and the contractual end date early March 2016.

The drilling contractor says the rig will be stacked after the Tarvos well while marketed for new employment.

As Songa Offshore previously reported, in its fleet status report for September, the rig was supposed to go on 75% suspension rate ($283.000 per day) starting November 2015. In addition, the expected resumption of the work with Statoil was supposed to be in early 2016.

Statoil said on Monday it tried to find other assignments for the rig after the suspension period and up to the expiration of contract.

Tore Aarreberg, head of rig procurements in Statoil, said: “We informed the supplier earlier in October about suspending the contract after the rig has completed the drilling operation on the Tavros well on the Visund field. Statoil has hoped for further activity in the remaining contract period, but we now realize that we must cancel the contract, as we have not succeeded in finding more assignments. We regret that we need to cancel the contract before it expires.”

Songa Trym is a self-propelled type Aker H-3 modified semi-submersible drilling unit, capable of operating in water depths up to 1,312 feet.

Major improvements to the rig were made in 2012. Songa Trym is operated by Songa Management AS of Stavanger, registered in the Norwegian register of shipping and classified by DVN GL.

Offshore Energy Today Staff