On the same day that another drillship named Discoverer was given an early termination, Noble Corporation has announced that Shell has terminated the contract for the drillship Noble Discoverer.
In its latest fleet status report, Noble said that “Shell has terminated the rig’s contract for convenience” and has agreed to pay the remaining term at approximately 90 percent of the operating dayrate “adjusted for certain other items.”
Shell committed to a three-year deal in late February 2014 at $368,000 per day for the drillship to be used for its failed Arctic drilling campaign alongside semi-submersible Polar Pioneer. The vessel initially failed to get a US Coast Guard certificate of compliance, which was later approved following more than a dozen upgrades.
Noble Discoverer is being mobilised to Singapore where it is expected to be stacked.
The announcement comes as another drillship called Discoverer, Transocean’s Discoverer Americas, was terminated by Statoil.