Maersk Drilling to reduce offshore crew as North Sea rigs go into stack mode

Offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling has decided to stack a number of its North Sea drilling rigs to adapt to the changing market environment. As a result, Maersk will be reducing its offshore crew pool in Denmark, Norway, and the UK.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lower oil price environment are impacting offshore drilling activity.

As a result, some tenders and projects are being delayed or cancelled, which adversely affects commercial prospects.

Just last week, Maersk Drilling received notices of early termination for convenience of two drilling rig contracts, one from Shell and the other one from Aker BP.

In light of the current commercial outlook, Maersk Drilling on Friday revealed its intention to stack a number of its North Sea rigs.

As a consequence, Maersk Drilling proposes to reduce the offshore crew pool.

The company has now taken steps to initiate consultations with trade unions and employee representatives about redundancies in the company’s offshore crew pool in Denmark, Norway, and the UK.

Maersk Drilling expects that the consultations will lead to a total of 250-300 redundancies in the North Sea crew pool.

The individual consultation processes will follow varying timelines in compliance with local regulations in the three countries.

Maersk Drilling CEO, Jørn Madsen, said: “Though it’s standard practice in our industry to adjust our workforce to activity levels, it never feels right to say goodbye to good colleagues, especially when so many have walked the extra mile to keep operations running in these very difficult circumstances.

“However, it’s our responsibility to safeguard our business and we are now taking steps to maintain competitiveness in the challenging market environment”.

Photo by SP Mac