OREANDA-NEWS.  July 02, 2014. The Beijing-headquartered oil giant has signed up the deep-water unit on a dayrate of USD337,000 for a minimum 90 days with an option for an additional well, New York-listed Atwood Oceanics said.

Work beyond 90 days will cost USD 330,000 per day up to 180 days, after which the dayrate will fall to USD 325,000.

Houston's Atwood said it had mutually agreed with state-owned Guinea Ecuatorial de Petroleos (Geptrol) to terminate the parties' previously announced contract for the rig provided certain conditions are met.

New York-based analysts Cowen and Company said the deal was a net positive for Atwood despite the lower dayrate than the cancelled contract's price of USD 515,000, given the Hunter has been idle since April.

The analysts said Atwood had now gained work for the last unsigned rig in its fleet for the coming quarters and added that “the Hunter should also be very competitive for follow-on work in calendar 2015 in West Africa, as the rig has an excellent operating history and reputation among its customers”.