Offshore staff
HOUSTON -- Marathon Oil Corp. has exercised a two-year option extension on its contract for the ultra-deepwater semisubmersible Noble Jim Day. The option extends the contract to 2014.
TheNoble Jim Day, under construction in Singapore, is expected to begin drilling operations in deepwater Gulf of Mexico in 1Q 2010.
The original commitment was announced in March 2007 and the contract was signed in August 2007 with an initial two-year term.
"We're encouraged by the acreage and quality of prospects that Marathon captured in the two recent Gulf of Mexico lease sales. This contract extension with Noble will provide ongoing rig availability to satisfy and fully execute our long-term deepwater Gulf exploration program, as well as additional appraisal and development activity that might be considered in the future," says David Roberts, executive VP, upstream.
TheNoble Jim Day will be a dynamically positioned semisubmersible rig capable of working in water depths up to 12,000 ft (3,657 m). The estimated contract commitment totals $750-million over the full four-year period.
06/24/2008
