Parker Drilling building 2 North Slope rigs for BP

In reporting its third-quarter earnings Nov. 3, Parker Drilling said it has two Arctic land rigs under construction and scheduled for “2010 deployment to the North Slope to begin drilling on five-year contracts for BP.”

Parker also noted successful completion of the sealift of the BP-owned Liberty rig to Endicott in the third quarter. The barges carrying the rig for Liberty arrived at Endicott at the end of July. Liberty, an offshore prospect in the Beaufort Sea, will be drilled from the secondary drilling island at Endicott, which was expanded to make room for the Liberty wells.

Parker said it has initiated rig-up and commissioning activities on the Liberty rig and also said that during the third quarter it was awarded the operations and maintenance contract for the rig’s initial drilling program.

The ultraextended-reach drilling at Liberty is expected to start in the spring of 2010, with first oil production from the field in 2011.

—Kristen Nelson