Shelf Drilling Rig Gets More Work With Eni In Adriatic

Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has secured an extension of a jack-up rig contract currently operating in the Adriatic Sea offshore Italy.

Shelf Drilling said that it secured an 18-month extension on the Key Manhattan jack-up drilling rig. This extension will be in direct continuation of its current contract for drilling operations in the Adriatic Sea.

According to data available in Shelf Drilling’s latest fleet status report, the Key Manhattan rig has been under a contract with Eni in Italy since April 2016.

It did, however, have a period of suspension during 2020 under a reduced day rate. The original contract was supposed to end in February 2022 if none of the three six-month options were exercised.

Now, Shelf Drilling’s fleet status report claims that the Key Manhattan’s expected availability is August 2023 without any other details being made available.

As for the rig, the Key Manhattan is a 350-foot jack-up drilling unit of a Marathon LeTourneau 116-C design built in 1980 and upgraded in 2010.

In recent times, several rigs owned by Shelf Drilling were contracted for work in India, making this extension in the Adriatic Sea a nice change.

First, India’s ONGC hired the J.T. Angel jack-up which in April 2021 under a three-year contract. Then, in autumn, the company hired Shell Drilling’s Parameswara jack-up rig under another three-year deal, with a planned starting date being sometime in the first quarter of 2022.

Then, just last month, the offshore driller won a deal for its 1978-built Ron Tappmeyer jack-up rig for more offshore operations in Indian waters, also with ONGC.

That rig is currently under contract with ONGC with a scheduled completion date in the second quarter of 2022. After the current contract expires, the start-up of operations under the new contract is supposed to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022.