Pertamina hires Chinese jackup rig for four years

Indonesia’s Pertamina has awarded a four-year contract to a jackup rig owned by Chinese driller CNPC Petroleum Offshore Engineering (CPOE).

The contract for the CPOE 16 rig will be both the rig’s and the company’s first drilling project in Indonesia, marking its first foray into Southeast Asia’s offshore drilling services sector.

According to a company statement, this is also CPOE’s largest contract to date. It is valued at over 1bn yuan ($137.7m).  

The Chinese offshore drilling contractor, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, also stated that it had been actively pursuing its international strategy, focusing on the Southeast Asian offshore oil and gas services market, with Indonesia as a key target.

The jackup was built in 2014 by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and has recently spent 120 days at a China Merchants shipyard for major upgrades before mobilising for Indonesia over the weekend.