Woodside Halts Atwood Rig Contract, Shifts Remaining Time to Another Rig
Offshore drilling contractor Atwood Oceanics announced on Monday that its drilling services contract with Woodside Energy for one of its semi-submersible rigs has been suspended and transferred to another drilling rig.
According to Atwood, the drilling contract for the 1982-built drilling rig Atwood Eagle has been suspended by mutual agreement effective March 19, 2016 and the remaining term of 165 days has been transferred to the 2011-built semi-submersible Atwood Osprey. Atwood Eagle was supposed to be under a contract with Woodside until September 2016.
As Atwood Osprey is currently under a fixed-term contract with Chevron until May 2016, with a dayrate of $445,000, the rig owner explained that Woodside would start using the rig upon completion of the rig’s current drilling program.
A year ago, while working for Chevron, the rig experienced operational problems after being torn from its moorings during Cyclone Olwyn causing it to drift near Pluto LNG Plant flowlines.
The material contractual terms and conditions, including dayrate, of the Woodside drilling services contract remain unchanged after this assignment to the Atwood Osprey, the drilling contractor said on Monday. Atwood Eagle was operating for Woodside under a dayrate of $450,000.
Atwood also said that the Atwood Eagle will temporarily remain in Australia until plans are finalized for its mobilization to Singapore, where the rig will be available for hire.
