Athens: Market oversupply has forced Statoil to cancel its charter of COSL Pioneer, a semi-submersible rig owned by COSL Oilfield Services, some 13 months before the contract was due to expire.
Statoil has not managed to find employment for the rig (pictured) since October 8, 2014, when it suspended the contract. The charter was originally scheduled to expire in August 2016.
“We regret the need to have to cancel this contract and wish to emphasise that this is not due to how the rig has delivered,” Jon Arnt Jacobsen, Statoil’s supply chain senior vice-president, said in a statement today.
“COSL Pioneer and its crew have demonstrated a good safety culture and delivered efficient drilling operations to Statoil. Cancellation is a consequence of overcapacity in the rig portfolio.”