Hi Jordy1, Yes it is somewhat concerning, if one already starts...

Hi Jordy1,
Yes it is somewhat concerning, if one already starts anticipating a delay in the Senegal drilling program. Imagine if Athena strike oil in Angola. So why did the JV contract the Athena (apart from the fact that it is the "RollsRoyce" of rigs). Surely there would be others, readily available with the downturn - at least as a Plan B contingency?
Of further concern (OdoubleO must correct me here if I'm wrong because I seem to have picked it up in one of his AGM notes) is that the Athena daily rig cost is circa $900k. I take that to be US which means circa AU$1.15Mil per day which is not far off from the previous rig costs?? Maybe OdoubleO can shed a bit of light on this.

I'd imagine the guys on Athene would have taken a bit longer on their maiden spud while getting used to the sound of all the new bells and whistles. We'll see and time will tell.