Dana Petroleum Taps Maersk Drilling for Dutch North Sea Project

OE Staff

October 1, 2020

Credit: Maersk Drilling

Danish offshore drilling rig company Maersk Drilling has signed a drilling contract with Dana Petroleum in the Netherlands, to provide a jack-up rig for the drilling at a project in the Dutch North Sea, and has agreed to delay a project in Denmark.

Dana will use the offshore rig to drill two development wells as part of its Project Unity, with the contract slated for start-up in the second quarter of 2021.

Maersk said that the contract is expected to last 121 days, with the value estimated at around $12.1 million, meaning the dayrate is around $100000. The rig to be used for the contract is yet to be assigned, but Maersk Drilling said it would be a harsh-environment jack-up unit.

According to the drilling contractor, before the start of the Project Unity contract, the rig to be used will be equipped with a high-efficiency Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system which uses ammonia injection to convert NOx into harmless water and nitrogen, reducing NOx emissions by up to 98%. The design will include an advanced control interface between engines and SCR units, it said.

Morten Kelstrup, COO of Maersk Drilling said: "We’re happy to add further to our relationship with Dana by drilling these two wells for the Unity gas development project. Operations in the Dutch North Sea come with a strict focus on protecting the environment, and we fully support this as part of our ambition of providing responsible drilling. We already have experience with providing NOx emission reductions by using SCR systems on Mærsk Innovator in the North Sea."

Also, Maersk Drilling and Dana Petroleum's subsidiary in Denmark have agreed to delay the previously announced one-well contract in the Danish sector which was originally expected to start in May 2020. 

"The updated date of commencement will be determined at a later stage, and the rig to be used is yet to be assigned. Maersk Drilling expects to receive compensation in the form of a deferral fee," Maersk Drilling said, without going into details on the amount of the expected fee.