Prospector ƶijϻ Drilling has received a conditional letter of award from Total E&P UK for a drilling contract in the UK North Sea.
This contract would be for Prospector's third jack-up rig, PROSPECTOR 5, under construction at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. shipyard in China.
Under the award terms, the contract would have an initial duration of 1095 days, worth about US$249million. Total will have the option to extend the initial period by two periods of 12 months each.
The drilling program is expected to start in late second quarter or early third quarter of 2014, following the delivery of PROSPECTOR 5 from the shipyard, which is expected to be in March 2014.
The award is conditional on a mutually agreed drilling contract being approved and approval of Total’s partners, expected to be achieved during July or early August 2013.