TotalEnergies and Vantage Drilling International signed a binding agreement to create a joint venture that will acquire from Vantage the Tungsten Explorer drillship, which the operator says will hedge deep-offshore drilling costs.
TotalEnergies will pay $199 million for a 75% interest in the JV, which will contract Vantage to operate the drillship for 10 years. Vantage will hold the remaining 25% in the JV.
TotalEnergies has used the drillship in exploration and development activities in Namibia, Cyprus, and Congo.
Built in 2013, the Tungsten Explorer is designed for deep offshore drilling. It is currently operating in Namibia on the Mangetti-1X well.