Lloyds List: Chartering club fixes Norway rigs: “OIL companies operating in Norway have formed a drilling rig chartering club, fixing three rigs on long-term contracts totalling $473m.”: “…Norsk Hydro, Shell and Eni.” (ShellNews.net) 24 March 05

Martin Wingrove

Mar 24, 2005

OIL companies operating in Norway have formed a drilling rig chartering club, fixing three rigs on long-term contracts totalling $473m.

State oil firm Statoil heads the team and has fixed the West Alpha, Transocean Arctic and Polar Pioneer on long-term charters on behalf of Norsk Hydro, Shell and Eni.

The companies have come together as a result of the tightening availability of drilling rigs in northwest Europe on the back of strong demand, especially in the UK.

'This co-operation provides good access to qualified rig capacity without the companies being forced to accept a high level of financial risks for the charters,' said Statoil project manager Arne Tillerli. 'The aim is that the overall rig capacity will be used in the most optimum way in relation to licence requirements.'

Transocean's rigs Arctic and Polar Pioneer have each been booked for a year starting from the third quarter of 2006, with a combined value of around $200m.

Smedvig's semi-submersible rig, West Alpha, is chartered for three years from the first quarter next year on a contract worth $273m.

The rigs are to be used in the challenging environments of the Barents and Norwegian seas, plus they could be used for high pressure, high temperature wells.

Polar Pioneer is drilling production wells on Statoil's Snohvit project in the Barents Sea and Transocean Arctic is working on the Norne oil field in the Norwegian Sea.

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