Offshore driller Shelf Drilling has secured a five-year contract for the recently acquired premium jack-up rig Shelf Drilling Victory for operations in the Arabian Gulf.

Shelf Drilling said that the contract value for the firm period, including mobilization revenue, was approximately $236 million.

The contract also includes a two-year option, and the planned start-up of operations is in late March 2023. Before the start of the contract, the jack-up rig is scheduled to complete a reactivation and upgrade project which is currently underway in the United Arab Emirates.

“We are very pleased to further expand our operations in the Middle East and strengthen our position in a strategically important market. This long-term contract is an opportunity for us to build and leverage the experience of our highly capable team and unique operating platform and demonstrates our ability to consistently generate value for the company. The award will contribute significantly to our contract backlog growth and indicates an improving jack-up market outlook,” David Mullen, Chief Executive Officer of Shelf Drilling, said.

Shelf Drilling bought this jack-up rig from India’s Aban Offshore earlier this year under the name Deep Driller 7 and changed its name to Shelf Drilling Victory upon delivery. The rig is of a Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 design and can operate in water depths of up to 375 ft and accommodate 120 people.

In recent news, Shelf Drilling said last week it secured a two-year contract extension for the Noble Sam Turner jack-up rig in direct continuation of its current contract in Denmark by way of a priced option exercise by the customer.

The contract value of the extension is approximately $68 million, and the expected availability of the rig is now March 2025. The rig will be renamed Shelf Drilling Winner upon completion of the official renaming process in early 2023.

Also last week, Shelf Drilling completed the acquisition of five jack-up rigs from various subsidiaries of Noble Corporation. The acquisition includes the rigs Noble Hans Deul, Noble Sam Hartley, Noble Sam Turner, Noble Houston Colbert, and Noble Lloyd Noble as well as related support, infrastructure, and offshore and onshore personnel. The five rigs were bought for a total price of $375 million.

Shelf Drilling completed the acquisition after securing $130 million of equity financing and $250 million of senior secured debt financing as well as a further contribution from the company of $70 million from cash on hand.

To contact the author, email bojan.lepic@rigzone.com

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