Diamond Offshore has signed a deal with ExxonMobil Corporation to take semi Ocean Victory for a four-well P&A program in the Zinc field in Mississippi Canyon Block 354. Work is expected to last for 105 days and will begin between January 1 and April 15, 2012, depending on when work with Walter Oil & Gas Corporation is completed. It is further understood ExxonMobil could have additional drilling work for the rig upon completion of the P&A program. The rig is currently working for ATP O&G in Green Canyon Block 299 and is next scheduled to go to the Walter work in Ewing Bank Block 834 in late November, with operations scheduled to last 45 days. Walter has also picked up previously idle semi Ocean Saratoga for a 21-day well in Viosca Knoll Block 821. The rig, which had been idle since late September, began mobilizing to location from Galveston, Texas, on November 13. Work will be completed in early December. Diamond also reports that jackup Ocean Titan has departed the AmFELS yard in Brownsville, Texas, for Mexico, where it has a 777-day contract with Pemex starting later this month. Semi Ocean Yorktown will depart the same yard in late November, ...

Total mobile rig utilization in the Gulf of Mexico increased this week as two previously idle rigs received contracts. Currently, 63 of 115 rigs are under contract or committed for work, for utilization of 54.8%. Marketed utilization, which excludes cold stacked and other rigs here but not marketed in the U.S. gulf, rose to 91.3%, with 63 of 69 rigs under contract.

Utilization of the jackup fleet increased from last week, as an idle Nabors Offshore Corporation unit received a contract. Overall fleet utilization is now 47.4% with 36 of 76 units under contract or committed for work. Marketed utilization is now 85.7% with 36 of 42 units contracted.

Floating rig utilization also rose this week, as a previously idle Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. semi went to work. Current fleet utilization is now 81.8%, with 27 of 33 units under contract, while marketed utilization hit 100%, with all 27 rigs under contract.

Total platform rig fleet utilization is still 44%, with 22 of 50 units under contract. Marketed utilization stands at 62.9%, with 22 of 35 units under contract or committed for work.

Inland barge utilization is unchanged this week. Total utilization is 55% with 33 of 60 units contracted, ...

Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc. (TODDI) has filed a motion for summary judgment in the U.S. Eastern District Court in Louisiana requesting the court to force BP to honor its contractual obligation to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Transocean for damages associated with BP’s failure to contain flow from its Macondo well in 2010. Transocean says BP has refused to honor its contractual obligations despite what Transocean says is the industry-standard reciprocal indemnity provisions contained in the drilling contract. The original contract was signed in 1998 and extended several times up to and including in 2009. Language in the contract says BP will “defend, release, protect, indemnify and hold harmless” Transocean for any and all fines, penalties and damages associated with environmental pollution originating from the well “without limit and without regard to the cause or causes” including negligence, “whether such negligence be sole, joint, active, passive or gross.” The motion also asserts that after months of discovery and over 200 witness dispositions, it was clear that no evidence of gross negligence by Transocean existed. BP filed suit against Transocean on the one-year anniversary of the incident, alleging that Transocean personnel had willful and callous disregard for the welfare of ...

Spartan Offshore has received a further extension from Century Offshore that will now keep jackup Spartan 303 under contract through May 2012. The rig has been working for Century since mid-February.

Hercules Offshore received contract extensions for two jackups recently. First, Hall-Houston extended its deal on the Hercules 212 for two wells in East Cameron Block 160. The rig is currently under tow to the new location, with work expected to keep the rig busy for around 90 days, making it next available for work around the end of January 2012. Pisces Energy has also exercised its option on the Hercules 263. The rig has now arrived on location in South Pelto Block 13 where it is expected to be until mid-December when a 50-day contract with Tana Exploration in set to begin. The Hercules 150 has arrived in Sabine Pass where it will undergo 45-50 days of leg repairs after it suffered a punchthrough trying to get on Tarpon Offshore’s location in West Cameron Block 265. It has not yet been determined if Tarpon will wait for the rig or switch to an alternative unit. The jackup is also scheduled to go to Arena Offshore for a 45-day ...

Petrobras America, Inc. (PAI) received permit approval from the BOEMRE on September 2 to drill a well in its Cascade field in Walker Ridge Block 206. The company is the first non-member of the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) to receive an approved drilling permit. The MWCC system can be made available to non-members on a well by well basis and allows the operator to cite the system in its permit applications. PAI has ENSCO, plc drillship ENSCO DS-5 under contract and has moved the rig onto location. Drilling and completion operations are scheduled to last 231 days, which will keep the rig on location to April/May 2012. Water depth at the site is 8,143 fsw.

Mexican state oil company Pemex will confirm recent jackup contract awards on September 15 for tender 521-11. In Part 1, a 612-day term starting October 22, 2011, Diamond Offshore was the low bidder with the Ocean Scepter. The rig is currently working for OGX in Brazil under a one-year contract that is not scheduled to end until February 2012. It is unclear as to how the rig will be freed up to mobilize to Mexico. The original day rate cap of $124,000 was ...

Transocean Services AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Transocean, Ltd., has announced an all-cash, voluntary offer for all Aker Drilling ASA shares for NOK 26.50 per share. Aker Drilling’s board unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer. The offer price indicates an equity market capitalization of about NOK 7.93 billion, or $1.43 billion, assuming an exchange rate of NOK 5.53 to U.S. $1.00. This represents a 62% premium to Aker Drilling’s 30-day average price of NOK 16.39 per share. Additionally, Aker Drilling has net debt of $0.80 billion. Aker Drilling operates two harsh-environment, ultra-deepwater, sixth-generation semisubmersible rigs currently on long-term contract to Statoil ASA and Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA in Norway. Aker Drilling currently is expected to take delivery in 2013 of two sixth-generation drillships currently under construction at the DSME shipyard in South Korea.

ENSCO has signed contract extensions for two of its Gulf of Mexico jackups. First, Apache Corporation will keep the ENSCO 86 for another 120 days from the end of August. The rig is currently working in South Marsh Island Block 281 under the current term, which began May 1. Arena Energy has agreed to keep the ENSCO 90 for an additional two wells in ...