Parker Drilling wins 7-year Hibernia drilling contract
Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. has awarded a seven year contract to Parker Drilling Canada for drilling services on the Hibernia offshore platform.
Parker Drilling, based out of Houston, Texas, will take over the contract starting July 1, CBC has learned.
The shake-up means the company will take over from Paragon Offshore — formerly known as Noble Drilling — which has held the contract for many years.
The news will come as a surprise to many industry insiders, who suspected KCA Deutag would get the contract. KCA Deutag won a similar contract for the Hebron Project, which is now under construction and scheduled become the province's fourth producing oil field late next year.
The Hibernia platform has been operating in the Newfoundland offshore for 19 years, and is expected to produce its one billionth barrel of oil by next year.
Up to the end of 2014, the provincial government reported that the value of oil produced at Hibernia had exceeded $63 billion.
With files from Terry Roberts