The UK independent is set to begin operations at the Spanish Point appraisal well on exploration licence FEL 2/04 in the Porcupine basin in the second quarter next year.

Cairn signed up for the semi-submersible rig Blackford Dolphin for the job, it revealed on Tuesday.

No contract rate was given, however.

The Aker H3 deep-water unit went through a $400 million upgrade in 2006.

The rig contract came after Irish authorities approved Cairn’s farm-in to exploration licences FEL 2/04 and FEL 4/08. The large independent is operator on 38% with Irish player Providence Resources on 32%, Chrysaor on 26% and Sosina Exploration on 4%.

FOE’s fleet status report shows the Blackford Dolphin has this year been on hire to Karoon and Anadarko before going for a survey.

The Norwegian subsequently revealed that the rig has also been chartered by MPX North Sea to drill a single well off the UK once it has mobilised from Brazil and finished its five-year class survey.

The combined value of the two contracts with Cairn and MPX is $67 million and will see the unit tied up for five months. This equates to approximate dayrate of $447,000.