Statoil has awarded Odfjell Drilling two contracts for drilling services on the Johan Sverdrup field. Deepsea Atlantic is awarded a three year contract for drilling production wells and Odfjell Drilling is also awarded a four year contract to provide platform drilling services on the Johan Sverdrup Drilling Platform.

These two contracts represent the recognition of Odfjell Drilling’s ability to provide both mobile drilling and platform drillings services to one of the most prestigious offshore field development projects in the world. We appreciate the trust Statoil and its partners show us, and I can assure that all people in Odfjell Drilling will demonstrate the company’s firm commitment to the successful development and production drilling of Johan Sverdrup, says CEO Simen Lieungh.

The drilling services for the Johan Sverdrup field are covered by two contracts:

• Semisubmersible marine Drilling Services with Deepsea Atlantic with a firm contract period of three years plus 6x6 months options. Planned start-up of drilling operations is during March 2016. The contract value over the firm period is estimated to USD 330 million (NOK 2.56 billion). Estimated contract value of the optional periods is in the range of USD 370 million to USD 470 million (NOK2.85-3.6 5billion).
• Platform drilling services including assistance during the engineering, construction and commissioning phase of the field development project. The firm contact period is 4 years plus 6x1 year options. Drilling commencement is expected during the fourth quarter of 2018 and the estimated contract value is USD 240 million (NOK 1.85 billion) including the pre-drilling assistance and the optional periods.

These contract awards contribute significantly to increase the order backlog and earnings visibility of Odfjell Drilling during a tough market cycle. The employment of Deepsea Atlantic under a long-term contract in Norway and the increased market share for our platform drilling services in the North Sea are of great importance and inspiration to our whole organization, says Lieungh.

In February 2015, Odfjell Drilling was awarded a sub contract to Aibel to provide drilling facility engineering services to Drilling Platform topside for Johan Sverdrup. By the award of the drilling service contracts, Odfjell Drilling has gained an important position in all phases of the Johan Sverdrup drilling activities, add Simen Lieungh.

Odfjell Drilling has since the 1973 developed as a reliable provider of integrated platform drilling and drilling facility engineering services in the North Sea region. In 1979 Odfjell Drilling was awarded the platform drilling contract on the Statfjord B-platform, one of Statoil’s legacy North Sea installations. This contract represented the start of the development of Odfjell Drilling’s platform drilling services.

The company currently provides integrated drilling services on 19 production facilities in UK and Norway. Under existing contracts with Statoil, Odfjell Drilling already provides platform drilling services on seven installations in Norway and is involved in the design and construction phase of the Mariner field in the UK where drilling operations will commence in 2017.