Fresh drilling gig in Norwegian waters scraps rig’s idle time before its multi-year job begins

Offshore drilling contractor Northern Ocean (NOL) has confirmed a short-term assignment with an undisclosed operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) for a semi-submersible rig, which is currently under contract in Africa.

Northern Ocean disclosed a letter of intent (LoI) with an unnamed operator on November 18, 2024, for a one-well assignment in Norway, which was to be completed before the Deepsea Bollsta rig’s two-year drilling campaign with Equinor.

According to the company, this LoI has been converted into a contract award for the semi-submersible from an operator it describes as “a renowned client.” The work in Norway is expected to start in the second quarter of 2025, immediately after the rig has mobilized for operations on the NCS.

Following its short-term work off the coast of Ghana, where it was hired for appraisal activities at the Afina-1x well, the Deepsea Bollsta rig was set to undertake a five-year class survey, followed by another assignment offshore Namibia. 

The rig owner plans to work with its operational manager, Odfjell Drilling, to prepare the rig for work in Norway in a manner it deems to be “safe, secure, and efficient.”

“This contract further solidifies NOL’s cash flow projections for 2025 and the company does not plan for any further equity raises in connection with the mobilisation of Deepsea Bollsta to Norway. NOL is continuously monitoring the debt market and plans to refinance its current debt falling due in June 2026 when it sees a good balance between terms and conditions versus order backlog,” explained the firm.

The new contract has an estimated firm duration of 54 to 99 days, which is still expected to be completed in advance of the deal with Equinor. The short-term assignment adds approximately $23-$42 million to the firm backlog and will raise it to around $488-$507 million.

The 2020-built Deepsea Bollsta sixth-generation semi-submersible rig is of Moss CS60E design and can accommodate 140 people. The rig can carry out operations in both benign and harsh environments at water depths of up to 3,000 meters.

Arne Jacobsen, Chief Executive Officer of NOL, commented: “This is the third contract in as many months and adds to the drilling program in Norway, with a well reputed client. In addition to increasing the backlog this contract contributes to removing potential idle time for the rig in advance of the Equinor contract.

“With Deepsea Bollsta being fixed on contracts until the end of 2027, excluding options, NOL will focus all marketing efforts to increasing the order backlog for Deepsea Mira in the months ahead.”

The Deepsea Mira semi-submersible rig has been on an assignment with TotalEnergies under a multi-country drilling contract since December 2022. The French giant exercised the first option under the contract in late 2023, followed by an extension that was slated to start in October 2024 for one well, with an additional well option.

TotalEnergies resumed exploration drilling on Block 2913B in Namibia’s Orange Basin on October 20 with the Tamboti-1X exploration well, which is described as a 1 billion barrel target.