Northern Offshore puts two jack-up rigs on back burner

COSCO’s Dalian shipyard and drilling contractor Northern Offshore have agreed to postpone the delivery of two jack-up drilling rigs amid challenging offshore drilling market. 

The shipyard received an order for two LeTourneau Super 116E jack-up drilling rigs in November 2013 and the plan was to deliver the rigs in 1H2016 and 2H2016, respectively.

However, the rig builder and the drilling contractor agreed at the end of March 2015 to reschedule the delivery dates of two rigs setting them for December 2016 and June 2017, nine months after the original delivery dates, only to delay them again on Friday, April 7.

Namely, according to Cosco’s statement from Friday, the owner of the rig and COSCO Dalian have mutually agreed to extend the rig acceptance date of the first rig, Energy Engager to the end of September 2017 and the second rig, Energy Encounter to the end of March 2018.

The owner and COSCO Dalian also agreed to delay delivery of both rigs until further notice.

The rig builder explained that these extensions were agreed upon taking into account the current unfavorable international marine market conditions.

Offshore Energy Today Staff