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.

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 ...

Reports are that Rowan Companies newbuild jackup Rowan EXL-IV may have a signed contract in place by the end of this week. While the potential customer is not known, market intelligence indicates Apache Corporation could be the operator getting the rig. The LeTourneau Super 116-E design rig, delivered from the Keppel AmFELS yard in Brownsville, Texas, on September 1, is currently undergoing systems testing while waiting on work and is expected to leave the yard in October.

Hall-Houston Exploration finally received its permit and now has jackup Hercules 212 on location in High Island Block 205. The ADTI turnkey well is expected to take around 30 days to complete. Meanwhile, jackup Hercules 214 has wrapped up operations for Apache Corporation in Main Pass Block 69 and is now on standby while it waits for its next contract to begin. That work will be for Phoenix Exploration Company, LP in nearby Main Pass Block 59 on a job that was switched from jackup Hercules 253. That rig is also on standby in West Cameron Block 38 while it waits to begin a threewell, 120-day contract with Hall-Houston, now expected to be in early October. Tana Exploration Company, LLC will then ...

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 ...

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 ...