Market reports indicate ENSCO, plc and Noble Corporation are close to signing long-term floating rig contracts in the Gulf of Mexico. Indications are that BP will charter newbuild drillship ENSCO DS-6 for a multiyear (believed to be five-to-seven years) contract starting in the first-half of 2012. The rig is scheduled for delivery from Samsung Shipyard in South Korea in December. Further rumors are that Noble will sign semi Noble Jim Day to a new multi-year deal with Shell starting in February 2012. The rig is currently working for the operator under a one-year deal that began in February. Shell also has contracts in the Gulf with Noble for semis Noble Danny Adkins, Noble Driller and the Noble Jim Thompson, and is due to pick up newbuild drillships Noble Bully I and Noble Globetrotter I later this year and in early 2012. Details of the new contracts will be reported once they are wrapped up. Meanwhile, BP and Petrobras have finalized a sixmonth sublet of newbuild drillship ENSCO DS-3, and the rig is now underway to Angola. The rig is scheduled to work there until mid-2012, after which it likely will return to the US Gulf. ENSCO’s contract with BP runs ...

Contango Oil & Gas Company has received all of the permits required to begin drilling its Eagle prospect at Ship Shoal 121/134, and the company is waiting on the jackup Hercules 205 to finish work for another operator in mid-to-late December 2011. Thereafter, Contango will drill its Fang prospect at South Timbalier 75.

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation reported that completion operations continue at well No. 4 in Green Canyon 300, where prior drilling already has encountered oil pay sands. Production is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2012.

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 ...

Noble Corporation has exercised an option with Hyundai Heavy Industries for the construction of an ultra-deepwater drillship, the fourth ordered this year by the company. The rig, which has not yet been named, is based on the Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design and will be outfitted to drill in up to 10,000 ft of water but will be capable of operating in up to 12,000-ft water depths. Construction cost, including turnkey construction contract, company-furnished equipment, project management and spares, is expected to be $630 million, and delivery is scheduled for the second half of 2014. The rig will be equipped with two complete BOP systems and a DP-3 stationkeeping system and will provide accommodations for 210 personnel. Noble does not currently have a contract in place for the rig.

ENSCO, PLC has received a short contract from Cimarex Energy Co. for idle jackup ENSCO 81. The rig is expected to move to location in South Timbalier Block 265 in about a week, with the 17-day P&A keeping the rig working through the end of the month. The rig has been idle in South Timbalier Block 28 since early August after completing a contract for Walter Oil & Gas Corporation....

Hercules Offshore has received a new contract from Apache to take jackup Hercules 214, with the rig now under tow to location in Main Pass Block 68. Upon completion, the jackup will enter a yet-to-be-named shipyard for a 45-day ABS inspection. Jackup Hercules 150 completed a contract with Hilcorp Energy late last week, and the rig has just arrived on location in Eugene Island Block 28 for the start of a one-well contract with Rooster Petroleum. Work is scheduled to last around 25 days, making the rig next available in the second half of September.

Operations for ENI US Operating with semi ENSCO 8500 in Green Canyon Block 517 have ended, and the rig is now in East Breaks Block 602, where it is undergoing BOP modifications. Work is expected to take about 60 days, after which the rig will remain in the block for two wells with Anadarko Petroleum in the Nansen field. The rig is operating under a five-year rig sharing agreement between ENI and Anadarko that runs to August 2013. Reports continue to circulate that newbuild drillship ENSCO DS-3 will have a sublet contract signed shortly that will take it out of the US Gulf of ...

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 ...