Fossil Energy – Rig Termination
Offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling has received notice from TotalEnergies EP Denmark to terminate the contract for the Shelf Drilling Winner jack-up rig operating offshore Denmark.
According to the notice and in accordance with the contract, the termination will be effective during August 2025.
The rig’s contract was originally scheduled to expire in August 2026, with two additional options to extend the contract until the end of 2027, as part of the contract extension agreed by Shelf Drilling and TotalEnergies EP Denmark in July 2024.
However, following a thorough evaluation of the original schedule, TotalEnergies has announced that the rig will be released in the summer of 2025, after completion of the last scheduled well activities, due to changes in the 2025 work programme.
As a reminder, the Shelf Drilling Winner has been under contract with TotalEnergies since 2022.
The jack-up rig is of the Friede & Goldman JU-3000N design, last upgraded in 2014. It is capable of operating in water depths of 400 ft. Shelf Drilling acquired the jack-up rig from Noble Corporation in 2022. At that time, Noble sold five jack-up rigs to Shelf Drilling for $375 million, including the Noble Sam Turner, which was later renamed the Shelf Drilling Winner.
