Noble Drilling Corp. has signed contracts for use of five of its jack up rigs in Venezuela and Nigeria.
Meantime, Falcon Drilling Co. Inc. signed a letter of intent to buy three submersible barge rigs from Rowan Cos.
All three companies have their headquarters in Houston.
Two of Noble's four jack ups working on Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo received 5 year contracts from Lagoven, an affiliate of state owned Petroleos de Venezuela. The Dick Favor and Carl Norberg rigs began their new contracts last May and June, respectively. Both rigs previously were under contract to Lagoven.
Also in Venezuela, Shell Venezuela SA signed a contract for use of the Charles Copeland jack up. The contract is to start about Aug. 1 and run until August 1997.
In Nigeria, the Don Walker jack up began a 3 year contract with Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited. The contract runs until May 1998. The rig previously was working off Nigeria for another operator.
In addition, the Percy Johns jack up, presently in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, received a 3 year contract from Mobil Nigeria to start in August. The rig will move to Nigeria in mid-July.
Rigs involved in the purchase letter signed by Falcon are the Rowan-Fourchon, Rowan-Morgan City, and Rowan-Fairbanks, each located in the Gulf of Mexico.
The combined sale price is about $12 million, subject to signing of a definitive sales contract. Closing of the sale is expected during third quarter 1995.
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