Dolphin Drilling has clinched a £155million contract with Chevron.
The deal will put the semi-submersible Blackford Dolphin into service for Chevron for a minimum of 18 months in the UK sector of the North Sea from the second quarter of 2015.
The announcement follows three major contract wins for the same rig this year, with work due to be undertaken for MPX North Sea in the UK sector and Capricorn Ireland, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cairn Energy, offshore Ireland.
The combined value of those two contracts is £41million.
The rig will additionally work for an approximate nine-month contract with Nexen prior to moving to the Chevron contract.
The Blackford Dolphin, previously operating in Brazil, is currently in dry dock in Belfast undergoing preparations for the start of the first of the four contracts now secured.
Graeme Murray, Dolphin Drilling managing director, said: “Bringing the Blackford Dolphin back from Brazil was a strategic decision and enables us to respond to demand. The latest contract demonstrates the North Sea requirement and we now effectively have a three year programme in place for this unit.
“That is valuable to us as we look to the future. We have ambitious growth and investment plans and are well placed to embrace the opportunities we forecast for the months and years ahead. We hope that the UK can provide a continued future platform for these investment opportunities.
“We welcome the new Blackford Dolphin contract with Chevron, having already reached agreement for the ultra deepwater harsh environment semi-submersible rig Bollsta Dolphin to commence a five-year contract with the company in 2015. It is currently under construction in South Korea.”
The contract gives Chevron the option of extending the agreement for a period of between 300 and 700 days.
The contract value includes a sum set aside for rig upgrades.
Following extensive work completed in Rotterdam in 2008, the Blackford Dolphin is considered to be one of the most modern units available in the UK sector.
The rig is equipped with a versatile capability for mooring in shallow and deepwater locations of up to 6,000ft. The Blackford Dolphin is part of a fleet of six units being operated from Dolphin Drilling’s base in Aberdeen. The company expects its offshore workforce to grow by more than 400 to approximately 800 in 2014.