Maersk Drilling firms up $370 million deal with Tullow

Following a conditional letter of award, Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract from Tullow for the provision of the ultra-deepwater drillship Maersk Venturer and additional services for a development drilling campaign at the TEN and Jubilee fields offshore Ghana.

Maersk Drilling received the conditional letter of award in February 2021. The contract started in April 2021, with an estimated duration of around four years.

As reported earlier this week, Tullow started its multi-year, multi-well drilling campaign offshore Ghana following the beginning of drilling of the first well at the Jubilee field on Monday.

The estimated contract value is approximately $370 million, excluding additional services provided and potential performance bonuses.

The contract has a progressive day rate structure for the full duration.

However, the contract contains certain provisions which, after an initial period of 18 months, permit a shift to a market-linked day rate structure and early termination for convenience by Tullow.

Jørn Madsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling, said: “We’re thrilled to have firmed up this long-term contract for Maersk Venturer, bringing it back to a basin where the rig and its crew previously performed stable and highly efficient operations for Tullow.

“We’re delighted to have started up operations again in Ghana where we will continue our work with the Ghanaian community, our partner Rigworld and other local suppliers who have contributed to our successful operations in the region”.

Maersk Venturer is a high-specification 7th generation drillship, which was delivered in 2014.

Also this week, Maersk Drilling secured a contract with Shell for the drillship Maersk Viking to drill four development wells at the Gumusut-Kakap project offshore Malaysia.