Equinor Picks Rig for Martin Linge Drilling

Equinor has awarded a contract extension to Maersk Drilling to use the Maersk Intrepid jack-up to sink three wells and plug another one at the Martin Linge field in the Norwegian North Sea, the operator said on April 30. It also signed a master framework contract with the Danish driller.

The contract extension is worth $100mn, including rig modifications and upgrades but exclusive of intervention activities, integrated services and any incentive payments for safe and efficient operations. It will come into force in September and includes an option for drilling an extra well.

The Maersk Intrepid, tailored for year-round operations in an ultra-harsh environment, has been working in the North Sea since 2014, Maersk Drilling said. It is due to be retrofitted with a hybrid power package to reduce greenhouse gases. The rig has been used so far to improve the bed capacity of the Martin Linge platform.

Martin Linge is due to come on stream in the third quarter of 2020, four years later than originally scheduled and at a higher cost of krone 56.1bn ($6.2bn). Delays were in part caused by a fatal crane crash at the Korean shipyard tasked with supplying its fixed production platform.

The contract extension will be welcomed by Maersk Drilling, which said on April 24 it was preparing to mothball several North Sea rigs and make 250-300 redundancies, because of the collapse in business since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

UK producer Tullow Oil in March terminated a contract for one of Maersk Drilling's vessels to work off Ghana early, reducing the rig operator's revenue backlog by $175mn. On April 17, Maersk also reported that Shell unit BG International had ended a contract early for another of its drillships.