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 ...

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....

Total mobile rig utilization in the Gulf of Mexico rose this week, currently standing at 49.6%, with 58 of 117 rigs under contract or committed for work. Marketed utilization, which excludes cold stacked and other rigs located here but not marketed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, stands at 81.7%, with 58 of 71 rigs under contract.

Within the jackup fleet, overall fleet utilization is now 40.3%, with 31 of 77 units under contract or committed for work. One previously idle ENSCO, PLC jackup received a contract, while a Noble Drilling unit left for Mexico. Marketed utilization is 72.1%, with 31 of 43 units contracted.

Floating rig utilization rose slightly with the addition to the fleet of the Noble Bully I newbuild. Currently, fleet utilization is now 79.4%, with 27 of 34 units under contract. Marketed utilization is marginally higher at 96.4%, with 27 of 28 rigs under contract.

Total Platform rig fleet utilization is unchanged, with 23 of 52 units under contract, for utilization of 44.2%. Marketed utilization stands at 63.9% with 23 of 36 units under contract or committed for work.

Inland barge utilization is unchanged, with 33 of 59 units are under contract ...

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) reported it has issued 67 new shallow water well permits since new standards were put in place during June 2010. Permits have averaged more than six per month over the past eight months. In addition, the agency has approved deepwater permits for 26 unique wells since mid-February, with 19 permits pending, and 26 permits returned to operators requiring additional information.

BP has exercised its six-month option on the contract of Transocean drillship Discoverer Enterprise, and the operator further agreed to an additional one-year extension for the rig. The six-month extension, which keeps the day rate at $435,000, will begin August 1, 2012, with the one-year term beginning January 2012 at a rate of $492,000. The rig, which recently underwent a deep cleaning and decontamination process after completing work at the Macondo oil spill site in Mississippi Canyon Block 252, is currently on standby for BP in Grand Isle Block 61.

Diamond Offshore semi Ocean Saratoga has completed its sublet contract for Nexen Petroleum in Green Canyon Block 50. The rig’s contract with Taylor Energy is now completed and the rig ...