Archer eyes new North Sea contract for modular rig

Oilfield services provider Archer has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with a North Sea operator for the provision of drilling services using the modular drilling rig Archer Topaz.

According to Archer’s statement on Wednesday, the LOI is for a firm contract period of two years and three months, with options for an additional seven months of work following the initial contract period.

A final contract award is subject to a successful front-end engineering design study for deploying the Topaz on the client platform, as well as final client board approval anticipated to be completed by end of February 2020, Archer said.

Expected start-up date for operations is mid-2021.

Archer added that, in combination with the already announced contract for Topaz on Heimdal in 2020, a successful award of this contract would secure the rig working until 2023/2024.

The rig is currently undergoing reactivation and recertification program prior to mobilization in 2Q 2020 for a contract on the Equinor-operated Heimdal platform.

The rig is expected to start operations in 2Q 2020.