The UK’s antitrust regulator has accepted a revised merger proposal by Noble Corp and Maersk Drilling, paving the way for the companies to proceed
In an initial review of the proposed merger, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it believed the merger could erode competition in the drilling market based on the two companies’ overlapping business interests.
To remedy the CMA’s concern, Noble Corp agreed to divest five jack-up rigs to a subsidiary of Shelf Drilling.
In a follow-up decision published 1 September, the CMA approved Noble Corp’s divestment plans, saying they were "appropriate to remedy, mitigate or prevent the substantial lessening of competition, or any adverse effect which has or may have resulted from the transaction, or may be expected to result from it".
Noble Corp has also set out a timeline for the merger with an eye towards listing the newly merged company by 3 October 2022.
In other rig sales news, Seadrill has agreed to sell seven jack-up rigs (AOD I, AOD II, AOD III, West Callisto, West Ariel, West Cressida and West Leda) to ADES Arabia Holding Ltd. ADES – a leading provider of rigs to Saudi Aramco – will employ the crews operating the rigs and will hold the drilling contracts related to the rigs.
The total for the deal stands at US$628M in cash, subject to terms and reimbursement to Seadrill at the time of closing for any costs in relation to the reactivation of the three stacked jack-ups West Ariel, West Cressida and West Leda.
Valaris has announced a new round of contracts and extensions with a backlog of US$149M.
The semi-submersible DPS-5 secured a three-well contract with Eni Mexico, commencing Q4 2022 for 240 days at a day rate of US$313,500 and a mobilisation fee of approximately US$1.2M.
The harsh duty jack-ups Valaris 122 and 247 extended their contracts in the UK North Sea. Valaris 122 sealed a four-well contract extension with Shell in continuation of the existing firm programme and has a contract value of more than US$60M, keeping the rig employed for close to 500 days. Norwegian operator DNO exercised a one-well option for Valaris 247 for an estimated 45 days.
Valaris 107 signed a one-well contract with an undisclosed operator offshore Australia. The contract is expected to commence either late Q1 or early Q2 2023 with an estimated duration of 60 days, operating at US$120,000 per day.
Diamond Offshore was awarded two floater contracts: BOE Exploration & Production contracted the Vela drillship for a minimum 225 days, including options for up to five to seven wells. Work is expected to commence Q1 2023 and the contract is valued at approximately US$88M.
Japan’s Inpex awarded semi-submersible Ocean Apex a two-well contract for work on the Northwest Shelf of Australia. The contract is expected to commence Q4 2023 in direct continuation of the previous contract.
Last week, Inpex completed exploratory drilling operations offshore the Shimane and Yamaguchi prefectures in Japan. Since May, Inpex Sanin Offshore Development, a subsidiary, has carried out drilling at a depth of approximately 3,440 m below sea level at a location approximately 130 km northwest of Shimane prefecture and approximately 150 km north of Yamaguchi prefecture. While the company reported detecting natural gas and crude oil in a deeper section of the well, it currently evaluates the volume of hydrocarbons as insufficient for commercial production.
Inpex Americas has transferred its participating interest (10%) in its US Gulf of Mexico assets in the Lucius Field and the Hadrian North Field to Anadarko (a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum), Murphy Exploration & Production Co and Eni.
The Hakuryu-5 semi-submersible completed a one-well exploration job for Inpex and is moving to Sarwak, Malaysia to work for Petronas later this month according to Japan Drilling Corp. Hakuryu-5’s contract involves a firm four-well drilling campaign with an option for six additional wells.
Elsewhere in Asia, BP chief executive Bernard Looney confirmed via a social media post that Ruby, a Samsung Heavy Industry-built floating production storage and offloading vessel, is heading to India to work on the MJ deepwater development.
Ruby has a crude production capacity of 12.7M m3 per day of gas. The MJ project is being developed by Reliance Industries and BP in block D6 of the Krishna Godavari basin. The field is estimated to hold a minimum of 0.988 trillion cubic feet of resources and production is expected to account for more than 10% of India’s gas demand.
In addition, state utility Oil & Natural Gas Corp inked an agreement with ExxonMobil to jointly work on deepwater exploration offshore India, in the Krishna Godavari and Kaveri basins on the eastern coast and the Kutch-Mumbai region in the west.
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