Rig trio finds new jobs: Busy times ahead for jack-ups in Borr Drilling’s fleet

Borr Drilling, a UK-headquartered offshore drilling player, has secured a batch of assignments for three jack-up rigs and shed more light on the contracting developments and movements across the rest of its jack-up fleet.

While revealing new contract commitments for three of its premium jack-up rigs and additional fleet updates, Borr Drilling underlined that the awards for the rig trio come with an expected combined duration of 774 days, bringing estimated contract revenues of approximately $120 million, excluding mobilization and demobilization fees.

The company’s Thor jack-up rig has received a binding letter of award (LoA) from Vietsovpetro in Vietnam, Southeast Asia. This deal covers a firm scope of three wells, with an anticipated duration of 75 days.

As a result of this job, which is expected to begin in April 2025, the rig’s previously announced program, originally set to start in May, will now commence in July in direct continuation of the Vietsovpetro assignment. With these adjustments, the jack-up is expected to remain under contract through September 2025.  

On the other hand, Borr Drilling’s Gerd jack-up rig has secured a binding letter of award from Foxtrot offshore Ivory Coast in West Africa for a one-year firm program, scheduled to kick off in late Q4 2025. This rig recently won a 120-day drilling contract offshore Benin.

In addition, the rig owner’s Norve jack-up unit has gotten a letter of award from an undisclosed operator for an 11-month campaign in West Africa set to start in the second half of 2026. The contract remains subject to the operator’s final investment decision (FID), anticipated in Q2 2025.

While confirming the receipts of re-mobilization notices for three rigs, which were previously suspended in Mexico, the rig owner also confirmed the commencement of long-term contracts for two jack-ups, enabling it to invoice approximately $48 million in lump-sum mobilization revenues.

A re-mobilization request from the offshore drilling player’s customer for the Galar, Grid, and Gersemi jack-up rig trio will enable mobilization to the units in mid-April 2025. These rigs are forecast to resume operations shortly thereafter, within the second quarter of 2025.

The rig trio, which had its operations suspended, as reported on January 15, 2025, will continue operations on Pemex’s assets under the same contractual terms. The Galar rig will be deployed at the Bacab-Lum field, which will be developed by an affiliate of the operator that hired the rig under a private investment structure.

Meanwhile, the Arabia I and the newbuild Vali rigs have begun earning day rate revenues under their long-term contracts with Petrobras in Brazil and Mellitah Oil and Gas in Libya, respectively, enabling the rig owner to invoice around $48 million in lump-sum mobilization revenues.

Thanks to these developments, six of Borr Drilling’s rigs, which were idle for part of or the entire Q1 2025, are set to resume operations, laying the foundation for what the firm expects to be a significant improvement in utilization, revenue, and EBITDA starting in Q2 2025 and beyond.

A few months ago, Seatrium completed a handover of the final unit in Borr Drilling’s multi-rig series nearly a year before it was due.