Ensco drillship wins contract with Noble Energy in Mediterranean Sea - WORLD OIL

August/21/2017

LONDON -- Ensco plc announced today that the ultra-deepwater drillship ENSCO DS-7 has been awarded a contract by Noble Energy to drill two wells and complete four production wells at the Leviathan field development in the Mediterranean Sea.

This contract is expected to commence in March 2018 and be completed in December 2018. The contract also includes four one-well priced customer options that if fully exercised would extend the contract into 2020. ENSCO DS-7 will be upgraded with a second blowout preventer.

This upgrade is expected to cost less than $10 million since it will utilize a blowout preventer currently in the company's inventory. Following its upgrade, ENSCO DS-7 will mobilize to the Mediterranean Sea to begin its contract with Noble Energy.

Atwood Advantage Is Too Expensive For Noble Energy. Ensco May Not Like It - SEEKING ALPHA

Drillship Advantage

Jul. 21, 2017 1:46 AM ET

Summary

• On July 18, 2017, the Leviathan partners and Noble Energy decided to terminate a contract with Atwood Advantage and promote a contract with another drilling rig.
• The Atwood Advantage was working for Noble Energy in Israel at $581K/d until August 2017. So, the loss is limited, but it is still a solid negative.
• This new termination is a wake-up call for Ensco and its shareholders. The acquisition of Atwood seems overvalued and unnecessary at the moment, in my opinion.

The Atwood Advantage is a DP3 Drillship, delivered by DSME in 2013, capable of operating at 3,658 meters (12,000 ft.) of water, drilling depths of up to 12,200 m (40,000 ft.) and has accommodations for 200 personnel.