London-headquartered offshore drilling firm, Acquadrill, previously known as Seadrill Partners, has renewed the charter hiring contract with a division of Diamond Offshore Drilling for one of its drillships, which will continue to operate in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Currently, Diamond Offshore oversees the management of Aquadrill Offshore’s two drillships: Auriga and Vela.
Aquadrill said in an update on Thursday that it had extended the charter hiring agreement for the Auriga rig, following a deal on the one-year mutually agreed option in the existing underlying drilling contract. Aquadrill underlined that the charter hire agreement will be extended “if the parties mutually agree to exercise the optional term.”
The entire contract value for the firm component of the drilling contract is anticipated to be $150 million. The resulting financial benefits for Aquadrill are “as if the company had entered into the drilling contract directly.” The contract commencement is expected to launch in March 2023, with an additional one-year option attached.
Aquadrill’s fleet of nine offshore drilling units makes up Four drillships, two semisubmersibles, and three tender assist drilling rigs.
Acquadrills’ recent activities emphasize its significant position in the drilling industry. In May 2022, Aquadrill entered a memorandum of agreement with Brazil’s PetroRio to sell the semisubmersible drilling unit Capricorn for $40 million. Since the buyer intends to utilize the rig on land that belongs to them in Brazil, it will no longer be eligible for drilling unit open market bidding.
