Danish offshore drilling contractor Maersk Drilling has secured a contract extension for a semi-submersible rig for operations in Australia.

The rig owner informed on Tuesday that Inpex has exercised an option to extend the provisioning of the ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rig Maersk Deliverer for drilling services at the Ichthys field in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia.

The contract extension has a duration of one year and is expected to start in July 2023, in direct continuation of the rig’s current contract. One one-year option remains on the contract.

As a reminder, the rig’s current three-year contract was awarded in April 2019, including two one-year options.

The rig owner emphasised that, since arriving in the country in 2020, the rig has employed a crew consisting of more than 80 per cent Australian nationals, exceeding the contractual requirement of 40 per cent. In addition, the rig follows Maersk Drilling’s global policy of using local suppliers when possible.

Maersk Deliverer is a DSS-21 column stabilised dynamically positioned semi-submersible drilling rig, able to operate in water depths up to 10,000ft. It is currently operating offshore Australia.

Maersk Drilling COO, Morten Kelstrup, said: “We’re delighted to confirm that Maersk Deliverer and its dedicated crew will continue to support Inpex and create value for the Western Australia community into 2024. The campaign at the Ichthys field has reached several key milestones, including that Maersk Deliverer was the first-ever rig to use managed pressure drilling in Australian waters.”