Denmark’s Maersk Oil Qatar has signed a $211m four-year agreement with the local Gulf Drilling International (GDI) for the supply of a jack-up drilling rig for the offshore Al-Shaheen oilfield in Qatar.

The deal is part of Maersk’s commitment to spend $1.5bn developing the 300,000-barrel-a-day field, which is Qatar’s largest oil producing asset. This will involve the drilling of 51 new wells. 

The Al-Jassra rig is being completed in Singapore, but will be transferred to Qatar when commissioning is completed. Qatar Petroleum has a 60 per cent stake in GDI with the Japan Drilling Company owning the remaining 40 per cent.