Rowan secures new jackup contracts, extensions

Rowan Companies’ Joe Douglas, a LeTourneau Technologies 240-C Class jackup, has been awarded a one-well contract with Fieldwood in the Gulf of Mexico for an estimated 30-40 days, the contractor announced in its December fleet status report. Dayrate for the contract is expected to commence at $95,000. In addition, the rig was awarded a three-well contract with BHP Billiton in Trinidad for an estimated duration of 120 days. This contract is expected to commence in September 2015 at an effective dayrate of $231,000.

Rowan also announced that the Rowan Gorilla IV jackup has been awarded a two-well contract with Arena in the Gulf of Mexico for an estimated duration of 90-120 days, which is expected to commence in early to-mid January 2015 at $110,000/day.

Rowan Gorilla III’s contract with a rig share group in Trinidad has been extended by approximately six months, from July 2015 to February 2016, at a dayrate of $165,000.

Rowan Gorilla II has been awarded a four-well contract with Vestigo in Malaysia for an estimated duration of 120 days, which is expected to commence in late March 2015 at a dayrate of $128,000.

For Q4 and full-year of 2014, the company continues to expect jackup out-of-service time to be approximately 7% and 10%, respectively. The company expects out-of-service time for the full-year of 2015 to be approximately 3-6% for its jackups and drillships, subject to fleet repositioning and market conditions. No operational downtime is included in projected out-of-service days, but the company estimates jackup operational downtime to account for approximately 2.5% of in-service days in current and future quarters. The company continues to expect drillship operational downtime to be approximately 5% after a break-in period of approximately six months up to one year.