17 April 2013 – Cairn Energy signs up drilling rig Cajun Express for work off Senegal and Morocco
UK-listed Cairn Energy has signed a long-term contract with Transocean to use the rig owner’s Cajun Express for a multi-well campaign in West Africa.
Cairn said the semi-submersible drilling rig would be used for an initial one-year period on a frontier exploration programme in Senegal, Morocco and potentially other areas.
The rig is expected to commence work off Morocco on the Foum Draa licence in the second half of this year.
The Cajun Express is designed to drill in deep water but has shallow mooring capabilities, and a 15,000 psi blowout preventer stack.
It had been working on a development well in the pre-salt Lula field off Brazil for state-owned oil company Petrobras.
Upstream had reported on market rumours suggesting that Petrobras would terminate its contract for the rig earlier this year.
*Dannica Newnham, Upstreamonline