Danish offshore drilling firm, Maersk Drilling, has confirmed a drillship contract with Tullow Oil for its Venturer drillship and Rigworld, its local partner to provide support for the contract.
This follows a conditional letter of award received from Tullow Ghana earlier this year. Maersk Drilling will supply the ultra-deepwater drillship, Maersk Venturer and additional services.
The ultra-deepwater drillship to be provided by Maersk Drilling will be used for work on the TEN and Jubilee fields, offshore Ghana.
The contract commenced in April 2021, and expected to last for about four years. This comes only three days after Tullow announced that it had started a multi-well drilling campaign using the Maersk Venturer. The contract terms require that Maersk Venturer to drill four wells in total in 2021, the first of which is being drilled at the Jubilee field.
Furthermore, the four wells consist of two jubilee production wells, one jubilee water injection well and one TEN gas injector well.
The Maersk Venturer is a 7th generation drillship that was delivered in 2014. It is currently operating at the Jubilee field offshore Ghana.
According to Maersk Drilling, the contract is worth approximately $370 million, without additional services rendered and potential performance bonuses.
Terms of the Contract
“The contract has a progressive day rate structure for the full duration. However, the contract consists certain provisions which, after an initial period of 18 months, permit a shift to a market-linked day rate structure and early termination for convenience by Tullow Ghana Ltd,” Maersk Drilling asserted.
Jørn Madsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling, said: “We’re thrilled to have firmed up this long-term contract for Maersk Venturer, bringing it back to a basin where the rig and its crew previously performed stable and highly efficient operations for Tullow.
“We’re delighted to have started up operations again in Ghana where we will continue our work with the Ghanaian community, our partner Rigworld and other local suppliers who have contributed to our successful operations in the region.”
Jørn Madsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling
For Tulllow, this new drilling contract forms a part of Tullow Ghana’s 10-year Business Plan which was presented at Tullow’s Capital Markets Day in November 2020. With an already large resource base and an extensive infrastructure in place, this sets the tone for holding such portfolio in Ghana, Tullow indicated.
Tullow believes that these assets have the potential to generate material cash flow over the next decade and deliver significant value for Ghana and investors.
Throughout this drilling campaign, Tullow said it will continue to implement its Shared Prosperity strategy through a strong local content programme with suppliers in Ghana, the professional and technical development of Ghanaian nationals and continued investment in STEM education, enterprise development and shared infrastructure.
Rahul Dhir, Chief Executive Officer, Tullow Oil plc indicated that:
“[This] is an important milestone in the implementation of our long-term Business Plan. Working closely with the Government of Ghana and our joint venture partners in Ghana, I am confident that we will unlock the full potential from the Jubilee and TEN fields through this multi-year, multi-well drilling programme.”
