On Thursday 19 January, Maersk Contractors and Pertra signed an agreement regarding the lease of ”Maersk Giant” to drill an exploration well during the summer of 2007. Pertra and Maersk have cooperated about drilling operations since 2002, but this is the first contract Pertra enters into after the restructuring of the company one year ago.

"We are very proud to resume the cooperation with Pertra, and we are pleased that Pertra succeeded in coming back as operator as soon as they did”, states VP Commercial Paul Carsten Pedersen.

Pertra is also very pleased that the first rig agreement was entered into with precisely Maersk, and this is no coincidence. The company has always maintained a good cooperation with Maersk Contractors, and they have together identified new ways of organizing the tasks of an operator and a rig contractor. The fact that it is possible to enter into a contract involving a single well in a heated rig market will prove pivotal for the smaller operators on the Norwegian Shelf.