Drilling Starts in Santos Basin, Offshore Brazil
PanAtlantic holds deepwater exploration assets in Brazil, West Africa and the Black Sea. Vanco Brasil Exploração e Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural Ltda., a wholly owned subsidiary of PanAtlantic Energy Group, announce that the Company has commenced drilling operations, using the GSF Arctic I semi-submersible drilling unit, for its three-well drilling campaign on blocks BM-S-72 (SM-1100), BM-S-63 (SM-1036), and BM-S-71 (SM-1035), in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. PanAtlantic, through its Brazilian subsidiary Vanco Brasil Exploração e Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural Ltda., holds a 70% participating interest in the concessions, together with Panoro Energy do Brasil Ltda. 15% and Brasoil Round 9 Exploração Petrolífera Ltda. 15%.
Ocean Rig UDW: Olympia Contract Novated
Ocean Rig UDW (NASDAQ: ORIG) announced that the remainder of the existing drilling contract with Vanco for the 6th generation drillship Ocean Rig Olympia has been novated to a Europe based operator for drilling offshore West Africa. The remaining duration provides for 120 days of work, for a contract value of approximately $60m. George Economou, Chairman and CEO said: “Flexibility is a key maxim of good customer service and the novation agreement for the remaining term of this contract is a winwin solution for all parties involved. We would like to thank Vanco for a fruitful contract.”
Dryships Results for Q3 2010
DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes and offshore oil deepwater drilling, announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the third quarter and nine-month period ended September 30, 2010. For the third quarter of 2010, the Company reported net income of $49.3 million, or $0.18 basic and diluted earnings per share. Included in the third quarter 2010 results are various items, totaling $49.7 million, or $0.2 per share which are described below. Excluding these items, net income would have amounted to $99.0 million or $0.38 per share. Included in the third quarter 2010 results are non-cash amortization of debt issuance costs…
Dryships Signs Another Drilling Contract
DryShips Inc. announced today that its fully-owned subsidiary Ocean Rig UDW Inc has signed definitive documentation following the previously announced Letter of Award. The contracts were signed with subsidiaries of Vanco Overseas Energy Limited (“Vanco”) for projects in which Vanco is operator and LUKOIL Overseas is majority co-venturer, for a five well contract for exploration drilling offshore Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire for a period of about one year with one drillship, commencing in the second quarter of 2011. The value of the contracts is approximately $160 million. The company has the option to use either of the OceanRig Corcovado or the OceanRig Olympia.
Halliburton Expands With Vanco For Deepwater Exploration Projects
Halliburton has signed an agreement with Vanco Energy Company for the provision of engineering and consulting services in several deepwater regions offshore West Africa. The agreement comes as Vanco, the largest holder of deepwater exploration licenses in Sub-Saharan Africa, prepares for a major drilling program offshore West Africa, beginning in late 2002. The operator expects to drill at least six deepwater exploratory wells offshore Equatorial Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco, and Namibia. Halliburton is providing Vanco with a LNG project screening study, software licenses, and screening tools. Halliburton's business unit, Halliburton Energy Services, is scheduled to begin engineering related work within the next few weeks.
