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Qatar’s Gulf Drilling International has made a $1.43bn deal with Qatar Petroleum for the provision of onshore and offshore rigs.
Four new contracts and four contract extentions, with five-year terms each, have been signed making the deal the largest GDI client commintment since its establishing 10 years ago.
Two new offshore drilling rigs ‘Dukhan’ and ‘Halul’ and two new land rigs GDI-7 and GDI-8 will be provided by QP as part of the deal. In the meantime the services performed by four land rigs GDI-1, GDI-2, GDI-3 and GDI-4 will continue, the contract extentions say.
His Royal Highness the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, who signed the deal alongside the chairman and managing director of Qatar Petroleum, said: “The new contracts will allow continuing, as well as expanding, the important development work Qatar Petroleum is undertaking.
“Each of the contracted rigs is being customised to meet the best in class criteria specified by Qatar Petroleum.”
Approving the deal from GDI’s side the company’s chief executive officer Ibrahim J al-Othman said: “GDI fully appreciates the value of the partnership that has been developed with Qatar Petroleum. These contracts will positively impact our revenue growth immediately, which will positively reflect on our profitability for this year and the next five years.
“Furthermore, the addition of a new offshore rig for QP – ‘Halul’ in 2016 will greatly support our long-term revenue growth plans.”
The new offshore drilling rig “Halul” is expected to be operational in Q4, 2014 and is currently being built to the “Mod VB Bigfoot” design, similar to the recently delivered rig “Dukhan”, which is expected to be placed into service in Q2, 2016.
Each rig will have a centrifuge system for solids control, extra bulk hoppers on deck, 7,500 psi mud pumps, a 15,000 psi choke manifold, 150 man accommodation, 10,000 HP power packages, off-line building stands, and a 75 foot cantilever outreach.
The two new land rigs are currently being built in the USA. GDI-7 will be a 1500HP rig, while GDI-8 will be a 3000HP rig, making it the biggest land rig in GDI’s fleet.
The land rigs will also come with water well rigs, mobile cranes, trucks and trailers that are required to support a land operation.
GDI’s onshore base camp, workshop, storage yards, warehouses and accommodation facilities are also being expanded to support the additional work and are expected to be placed into service during the second half of 2015.
GDI is estimated to have a total of 18 drilling rigs, one accommodation jack-up and two liftboats by mid-2016.
