Shelf Drilling rig pair staying two more years with Chevron

UAE-headquartered offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling (SHLF) has landed long-term extensions with Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, a subsidiary of the U.S. oil major Chevron, for assignments two of its jack-up rigs are working on off the coast of Thailand.

These two-year contract extensions have been secured for the Shelf Drilling Chaophraya and Shelf Drilling Krathong jack-up rigs with Chevron for operations offshore Thailand. The first rig has been under contract with Chevron in Thailand since December 2016, while the second one joined the same oil and gas player in June 2017.

The combined contract value for the incremental firm term will bring the rig owner approximately $197 million, thanks to these contract extensions, which will begin in the second half of 2025 after the rigs complete their current commitments.

Greg O’Brien, Shelf Drilling’s CEO, commented: “These rigs were custom built with unique offline capabilities for Chevron’s factory-style operations in the Gulf of Thailand. We thank Chevron for their continued trust in Shelf Drilling as we work together to achieve operational excellence.”

The previous extensions were disclosed in 2021, when Chevron prolonged the Shelf Drilling Chaophraya rig’s job for 39 months and the Shelf Drilling Krathong rig’s work for 36 months with the start of the extension periods expected in Q3 and Q4 2022, respectively.

The Shelf Drilling Krathong rig, delivered in April 2017 by the UAE-based offshore rig builder Lamprell, was designed and constructed according to the specifications of its sister rig, the Shelf Drilling Chaopraya, which was delivered to Shelf Drilling in September 2016.

These two LeTourneau Super 116 Enhanced Class offshore drilling rigs feature high-specification offshore drilling technology and have accommodation capacity for up to 160 people.

Shelf Drilling recently got an acknowledgment of compliance (AoC) clearance for a rig booked for work in Norway, which came after a new set of drilling assignments for two jack-up rigs in West Africa.

The rig owner also recently sold a jack-up rig slated for work on a decommissioning assignment in Malaysian waters with its new owner.