RE:RE:PhantomGentlemen,
Regarding the new Notice to Mariners (NTM), please refer to what I had posted last time with the "demobilization" notice which, in line with what I had written, was confirmed to be wrong within 24 hours. This new NTM is akin to the first one, the authorities are just giving a notice to all mariners in the area that the rig will/may be in place up to 2/5.
An NTM's raison d'etre is to avoid collisions/accidents. Therefore it is common to cover as large a period as reasonable, so it does not mean the rig will necessarily stay there until the 2/5.
And more generally speaking, as already stated, people issuing the NTMs are at the very, very far end of the information chain; there is no point (as already seen on the last NTM) trying to make sense of these notices for any practical operational purpose.
GLTA,
The maritime authorities of every country releases NTMs on a regular basis for maritime activities happening within their EEZ; it does not mean anything specific regarding what is happening on that particular rig, it is just a notice to mariners so that they know there is still a structure (i.e. rig) in the area, with supply vessels around etc. The OIM, barge master and myself receive regularly these notices on our rig, it is part of the stream of information you receive so that you know what is happening around you but unfortunately the wording does not always reflect what is happening on the rig. To me it looks like the harbour master had to put something in there ans dais "demobilization sounds OK at that stage".
Their previous NTM was issued early July stating that exploration drilling activities were commencing on the block, despite the fact that the rig hasn't arrived until mid-August. Simply, the maritime authorities did not check with the operator (i.e. CGX) before issuing the notice, they took as a basis the date that was on the drilling permitting application (that the operator needs to put in several months in advance).
In short, no need to panic or think about anything operational; this will not be the first NTM disconnected from what's happening out there.
In fact, legally speaking they should've published that NTM on the 15th of Dec because their last NTM regarding Kawa was mentioning end of operations on that date and they left 11 days of "incorrect" status on a part of their EEZ. It's just an administration not doing their job properly, no worries.
GLTA,