Maersk Drilling Nets Shell Deal

Maersk Drilling has revealed that it has secured a contract with Shell Malaysia for the Maersk Viking drillship to drill four development wells at the Gumusut-Kakap project offshore Malaysia.

The contract is expected to commence in December 2021 and have a duration of 150 days. Maersk Drilling noted that the firm contract value is approximately $34 million, including a mobilization fee. The contract includes five additional one-well options for work offshore Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei Darussalam, Maersk Drilling highlighted.

“We’re delighted to confirm that Maersk Viking will return to Shell Malaysia for work on the Gumusut-Kakap project,” Maersk Drilling’s chief operating officer Morten Kelstrup said in a company statement.

“In this way, we will be able to build further on the great collaboration that the rig’s highly capable crew has established during its current campaign with Brunei Shell Petroleum,” he added in the statement.

Maersk Viking is a high-spec ultra-deepwater drillship which was delivered in 2013, Maersk Drilling notes on its website. The vessel is currently operating offshore Brunei Darussalam.

Maersk Drilling’s latest deal is one of several announced over the past few months. On March 29, the company revealed that it had been awarded a contract with Aker BP for the Maersk Reacher rig to assist with well intervention, stimulation, and accommodation at the Valhall field offshore Norway. During the same month, Maersk Drilling revealed that it had been awarded a one-well contract by Petrogas E&P Netherlands B.V. to employ the Maersk Resolute rig.

Back in February, Maersk Drilling received three deals; a one-well extension agreement with Equinor, a one-well drillship contract with Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), and a two-well contract for with Aker BP. In January, Maersk Drilling was also awarded two Suriname floater contracts by Total and a one well contract with Spirit Energy.