Borr Drilling rigs find new jobs in Europe, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa

UK-headquartered offshore drilling contractor Borr Drilling has secured a batch of new contracts, extensions, and potential assignments, for several premium jack-up rigs in its fleet. The work these rigs have been hired to do spans multiple continents.

The UK firm recently won a contract for its Prospector 1 rig with ONE-Dyas. Expected to be carried out from March 2024 to October 2024, the rig’s assignment is in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In addition, another contract with an undisclosed operator in the Netherlands will keep the rig busy from November 2024 to January 2025. Borr Drilling confirmed that the rig concluded operations with Neptune Energy in the Netherlands and commenced operations with ONE-Dyas in the United Kingdom in late March 2024.

The 2013-built Prospector 1 jack-up rig is of Friede & Goldman JU2000E design and was constructed at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore in China. With a maximum drilling depth of 35,000 ft and a water depth of 400 ft, the rig can accommodate 140 people.

Borr Drilling’s Gunnlod rig won a contract with an unnamed company in Southeast Asia, which will keep it occupied from May 2024 to July 2024. The 2018-built Gunnlod jack-up rig, which is of PPL Pacific Class 400 design, was constructed at PPL Shipyard in Singapore and can accommodate 150 people. With the ability to operate in water depths of 400 ft, the rig’s maximum drilling depth is 30,000 ft.

The Thor jack-up rig also landed a contract with an undisclosed firm in Southeast Asia, with the assignment slated to begin in July 2024 and last until November 2024. The 2019-built rig is of KFELS Super B Bigfoot Class design and can accommodate 150 people. With a maximum drilling depth of 35,000 ft, the Thor rig can operate in water depths of up to 400 ft.

The next rig on the list of those that got more work is the Norve jack-up rig, which obtained a contract extension with BW Energy, allowing it to remain in Gabon from August 2024 to October 2024. Afterward, the rig is expected to move to its assignment in Africa with Tower Resources. Based on the firm’s fleet status report, the deal is anticipated to start in February 2025 and end in May 2025.

The 2011-built Norve jack-up rig, constructed at the PPL shipyard in Singapore, is capable of operating in water depths of up to 400 ft. With a maximum drilling depth of 30,000 ft, the rig is of PPL Pacific Class 400 design and can accommodate 150 people.

Additionally, QatarEnergy has exercised options to prolong the work being done by Borr Drilling’s Groa jack-up rig in Qatar. As a result, the 2016-built rig, which is of PPL Pacific Class 400 design, will be on the extended part of its assignment from May 2024 to April 2025.

The offshore drilling firm also secured two letters of award (LOA) for unspecified rigs, as this is yet to be decided. The first LOA is with an undisclosed company in Africa and will last from October 2024 to April 2025 while the second one, which is also with an unnamed operator in African waters, will begin in Q4 2024/Q1 2025 and end in Q1 2026/Q2 2026.

Furthermore, the Gunnlod rig finished operations with ROC Oil in Malaysia and started operations with an undisclosed customer in Southeast Asia in direct continuation in early May 2024 while the Arabia I jack-up received a notice of suspension from Aramco in March 2024. This suspension in Saudi Arabia began in early May 2024.

Patrick Schorn, Borr Drilling’s CEO, commented: “The first quarter results have been strong, driven by solid operational performance with technical utilization coming in at 99.0% and economic utilization at 98.6%, keeping us right on track to meet our annual plan.

“We finished the quarter with all 22 delivered rigs operating, however after the close of the quarter, the contract for one of our rigs, ‘Arabia I’ in Saudi Arabia, was suspended. The rig had excellent operational performance, and based on current customer discussions we are optimistic it will be re-contracted before the end of Q3.”

While disclosing its unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2024, Borr Drilling highlighted its total operating revenues of $234 million in Q1 2024, an increase of $13.4 million or 6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, and net income of $14.4 million, representing a decrease of $14 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

Schorn continued: “On the contracting front, we continue to deliver strong results, securing $318 million in revenue backlog year to date, translating to an average day rate of approximately $183,000. Notably, in the second quarter, we achieved our first-ever contract exceeding $200,000 per day on a clean day rate basis.

“This milestone not only underscores the premium quality and operational excellence of our fleet, but it is a positive confirmation of our views of a well-balanced market despite the recent developments in Saudi Arabia.”

According to the offshore drilling player, it has been awarded eleven new contract commitments year to date, representing 1,743 days and $318 million of potential contract revenue, including five new contract commitments signed after the end of the first quarter of 2024.

“Given the high utilization of our rigs and limited near term availability, we are working closely with our customers to optimize the deployment of our fleet to best serve their requirements. As such, it is our expectation that the newbuild rig ‘Vali’, to be delivered from the shipyard by the end of 2024, will immediately join the operational fleet to cover this work scope,” added Schorn.