Equinor has extended its contract with Northern Ocean Ltd. for the semisubmersible rig Deepsea Bollsta, adding five months to the current term for operations on the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea.
The extension brings the total firm period to two years and five months, allowing completion of an eight-well drilling program at one of Norway’s key offshore developments. The rig, built in 2019, began work for Equinor in mid-2025 under an agreement signed in late 2024.
The initial contract included a firm two-year duration and five optional one-year extensions. The deal contributed approximately $335 million in firm backlog, along with about $80 million covering mobilisation from Namibia to Norway, client-specific upgrades, and integrated services.
Following the latest extension, Equinor retains the five one-year options available once the revised firm term concludes. The sixth-generation Deepsea Bollsta is managed by Odfjell Drilling on behalf of Northern Ocean, a company formed from the spin-off of John Fredriksen’s Northern Drilling. Its fleet also includes the Deepsea Mira.
