Dana Terminates Maersk Drilling Deal

Maersk Drilling announced Friday that it has received notice of early termination of a one-well contract with Dana Petroleum Denmark B.V.

Maersk outlined that it expects to receive compensation for the cancellation in the form of a termination fee. The contract, which was first announced in the company’s May 2020 fleet status report, was originally expected to commence in May last year. Maersk announced in October 2020 that the contract had been deferred and that the updated date of commencement would be determined at a later stage.

In October last year, Maersk secured a contract from Dana Petroleum Netherlands B.V. to drill two development wells as part of Project Unity in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. In a statement at the time, Maersk said the contract was expected to commence in the second quarter of this year and have an estimated duration of 121 days. The contract value was said to be approximately $12.1 million.

Maersk has announced several contract awards over the past few months. Earlier in January the company was awarded a deal from Spirit Energy for the harsh-environment jack-up rig Maersk Resolve, to drill one development well at Grove North East in the UK North Sea, and in December the company bagged a one well contract from OMV (Norge) AS for the low-emission jack-up rig Maersk Integrator.

In November 2020 alone, Maersk secured four deals. One was from Total E&P Suriname for the supply of two deepwater rigs for an exploration and appraisal project in Suriname’s Block 58, two were from  Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn. Bhd, and the fourth was from Petrogas E&P Netherlands B.V. for the Maersk Resilient to drill three wells at the B13 and A12 fields in the Dutch sector of the North Sea.

Maersk Drilling descries itself as a leading offshore drilling operator. The company - which conducts operations across Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe – traces its roots back to the Danish Underground Consortium, which was established in 1962 among Maersk, Shell, and Gulf to exploit the resources in a defined area of the Danish part of the North Sea. 

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com