Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract from DONG Energy for the jack-up Maersk Resolve for drilling operations in the Danish North Sea. The contract is expected to commence in August 2013 in direct continuation of its current contract in the UK. The duration of the new contract with DONG Energy is expected to be nine months until June 2014, where the rig after a planned yard stay will commence another five well firm contract with DONG Energy awarded in March 2012 expected to last approximately two years. The estimated value of the new nine month contract is USD 58 million.

"We are very pleased to enter this contract with DONG Energy, one of our key customers in the North Sea area," says Claus V. Hemmingsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling and member of the Executive Board of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group.

"Maersk Resolve will now work for DONG Energy through to the end of third quarter of 2016 and we look forward to co-create value with DONG Energy on their many interesting prospects including the high profile Hejre field development which requires the drilling of a number of deep and complicated High-Pressure-High-Temperature wells. With its high tech equipment the Maersk Resolve is ideally suited to meet these demands."

Maersk Resolve is the third in a series of four High Efficiency 350 ft jack-up rigs in Maersk Drilling's fleet. Since its delivery in 2009 the rig has been employed in the Danish and UK North Sea.