Maersk rig re-hired for North Sea well

Offshore rig owner Maersk Drilling and Petrogas have agreed to exercise the previously agreed exclusive option to employ the harsh-environment jack-up rig Maersk Resilient to drill an appraisal well at the Birgitta field in the UK sector of the North Sea.

As informed by Maersk Drilling on Wednesday, the contract is expected to start in the end-2021, in direct continuation of the rig’s current work scope. It has an estimated duration of 60 days and a value of approximately $5.4 million.

“We’re very pleased to get this opportunity to re-start the Birgitta project which was temporarily halted due to the global pandemic and the challenging market conditions the industry experienced last year. This is another testament to our strong relationship with Petrogas,” says Claus Bachmann, Head of North Sea Division in Maersk Drilling.

To remind, Petrogas awarded the initial contract to Maersk to drill the Birgitta well back in September 2019 but the contract was cancelled in November 2020 with Maersk retaining the exclusive option with Petrogas to drill the Birgitta well in 2021 at rates reflecting the expected 2021 market.

Maersk Resilient is a 350 ft., Gusto-engineered MSC CJ 50 high-efficiency jack-up rig which was delivered in 2008. It is currently operating in the UK sector of the North Sea for NAM.

The rig was also recently used by Serica to drill the Columbus development well in the UK North Sea and, just last week, Serica achieved the first production from the field.