ExxonMobil in another extension for Rowan drillship

Oil major ExxonMobil has exercised the third of four options for the Rowan Companies-owned Rowan Relentless, an R-Class ultra-deepwater drillship.

The option will be used for operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and has an expected duration of 180 days, the offshore driller informed on Wednesday.

The Rowan Relentless has been under contract with ExxonMobil since September 2018. ExxonMobil exercised the first two options for the Rowan Relentless drillship back in December 2018.

Rowan Relentless is an R-Class ultra-deepwater drillship built in 2015. The drillship, of a GustoMSC P10,000 design, is capable of drilling wells to depths of 40,000 feet in waters of up to 12,000 feet.

In a fleet status report on Wednesday Rowan said that a contract for its jack-up rig Rowan EXL II with BP in Trinidad is expected to conclude in early June instead of previously expected April 2019 end date.

Furthermore, BP has exercised the first of two options for the Joe Douglas jack-up rig and the rig started the work in early January 2019. BP has one unpriced option remaining. The rig’s next available window is expected in June 2019. Rowan expects for the rig to have off rate time in 3Q19 for UWILD.

In the fleet report, Rowan also said that two of its jack-up rigs, Hank Boswell and Scooter Yeargain, will have off rate time in 2Q19 for maintenance and inspections.

It is also worth reminding that, earlier this week, Rowan’s Renaissance drillship was awarded a drilling rig contract with Petronas for operations offshore Mexico. The contract is for an estimated duration of 80 days, plus a one‐well priced option, and it expected to start in the second quarter of 2019. The drillship is currently under contract with Total, which started in mid‐January 2019.

Offshore Energy Today Staff