Rig: Valaris 111

Eni extends 'Atwood Beacon' contract

Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (“Atwood”) announced today that one of its subsidiaries had reached an agreement for a six-month extension of its existing contract with Eni S.p.A. (“Eni”) for the jackup rig, Atwood Beacon. The Atwood Beacon commenced its initial two-year drilling services contract with Eni on December 24th 2013, for operations offshore Italy. The agreement revises the day rate to €117,155 (USD129,365), inclusive of equipment upgrade costs, from €135,100 (USD149,180) beginning March 1st, 2015 and extends the Atwood Beacon's firm commitment from December 24th, 2015 through June 2016.

Atwood secures new contract for 'Atwood Beacon' jackup

Atwood Oceanics has secured a new contract for the company's 'Atwood Beacon' jackup rig with Eni contracting the unit for a firm period of two years for work offshore Italy. The unit will mobilise to Italy at the end of its current contract with Shemen Oil and Gas in Israel in July 2013 and will be required to incur costs related to the compliance of Italian offshore operating laws and regulations to work in the country. The contract is valued at around US$128 million and also contains an option for an additional third year.

Jaguar-1 exploration well update

Drilling operations at the Jaguar-1 well in the Georgetown Block, Guyana, have ended and the well will be plugged and abandoned at a depth of 4,876 metres, without reaching the primary objective. The decision to stop drilling at this point was unanimously agreed by all partners based on safety criteria and was taken after reaching a point in the well where the pressure design limits for safe operations prevented further drilling to the main objective. Jaguar-1 was a high pressure, high temperature well which was spudded in February 2012 using the Atwood Beacon rig. Whilst the primary Late Cretaceous objective was not reached, samples of light oil were successfully recovered from two Late Cretaceous turbidite sands above the primary objective.