Drilling & Completion News
Mark Denkowski, IADC’s Vice President of Accreditation and Certification, comments on the current status of HUET in the Gulf of Mexico and IADC’s efforts to standardize the training in the video above.
Petrofac begins water safety, survival training at NASA for oil, gas industry
In a partnership between Petrofac Training Services and Raytheon Technical Services Co, NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Houston recently evolved into a multipurpose facility that houses courses in water safety and survival training for the offshore oil and gas industry.
Using the 6.2 million-gal, 40-ft deep NBL pool, helicopter underwater egress training (HUET) is one of the first programs being implemented.
Taking place in the same pool that contains a full-scale replica of the International Space Station and where astronauts train, the survival training programs for the oil and gas industry began in December and offers drilling contractors, operators and service companies another outlet to train in a realistic environment.
Read more about Petrofac Training Services here.
Odfjell Drilling secures record pre-contract with BP for semisubmersible
Odfjell Drilling has been awarded a pre-contract award with BP for a newbuild semisubmersible for operations in the UK’s West of Shetland region. The new unit will be active in the UK’s Schiehallion and Loyal fields and will form a key part of the Quad 204 development. Quad 204 is a joint venture to redevelop Schiehallion and Loyal. The full contract, subject to approval, will have a fixed duration of seven years and is due to start in Q4 2014.
The sixth-generation rig will be built in South Korea by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME).
“The new rig for BP is of the enhanced GVA7500 harsh-environment design and will be a sister rig of the Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Stavanger previously delivered to us by DSME,” Simen Lieungh, president and CEO of Odfjell Drilling, said. Odfjell’s Deepsea Metro I and Deepsea Metro II sixth-generation ultra-deepwater drillships were delivered from Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2011.
West Esperanza to drill offshore Equatorial Guinea
Seadrill has received a letter of award from Hess Equatorial Guinea for an eight-well drilling contract offshore Equatorial Guinea for the semi-tender rig West Esperanza. The contract duration is a minimum of 18 months.
The West Esperanza is under construction at the Keppel FELS yard in Singapore and scheduled for completion in Q2 2013. Operations are expected to commence at the end of that quarter.
Noble Energy discovers natural gas offshore Cyprus
Noble Energy has made a natural gas discovery on Cyprus Block 12 offshore Cyprus. The well encountered about 310 ft of net natural gas pay in multiple high-quality Miocene sand intervals.
The Cyprus A-1 discovery well was drilled to a depth of 19,225 ft in water depths of about 5,540 ft. Results from drilling, formation logs and initial evaluation work indicate an estimated gross resource range of 5 trillion to 8 trillion cu ft (Tcf), with a gross mean of 7 Tcf.
Keppel AmFELS to build semisubmersible from existing hull for Diamond Offshore
Diamond Offshore has contracted Keppel AmFELS to construct and upgrade a moored semisubmersible from the existing hull of Diamond’s cold-stacked unit Ocean Voyager. Delivery is expected in Q3 2013.
Keppel AmFELS will reconstruct the rig and install equipment, such as a modern drilling package and sponsons to the pontoons to enhance rig stability. The rig, to be named the Ocean Onyx, will be designed to operate in depths up to 6,000 ft and have a variable deck load of 5,000 long tons, a five-ram blowout preventer and capacity for 140 personnel.
“We think significant opportunity remains for new deepwater units,” Larry Dickerson, president and CEO of Diamond Offshore, said. “No new capacity targeting the standard mid-water and deepwater markets is currently under construction, and this rig should be ideally suited to meet emerging demand in this segment.”
TOTAL enters JV with Chesapeake in Utica
TOTAL E&P USA is entering a joint venture (JV) with Chesapeake Exploration and affiliates of its partner EnerVest and will acquire a 25% share in Chesapeake’s and EnerVest’s liquids-rich area of the Utica Shale.
The JV covers approximately 619,000 net acres, of which 542,000 net acres are brought by Chesapeake and 77,000 net acres by EnerVest.
The JV plans to ramp up drilling activities in the coming three years, with 25 rigs planned to be mobilized by 2014 to fully appraise and develop the acreage.
TOTAL’s share is expected to reach 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the decade.
“TOTAL is conscious of the environmental aspects linked to developing shale acreage and is confident in Chesapeake’s capacity to manage the Utica shale operations in a responsible manner,” Yves-Louis Darricarrère, president of TOTAL E&P, stated.
Deepsea Metro I begins drilling campaign in Tanzania
Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Metro I commenced its drilling program in January for BG Group in Tanzania. The contract with BG has a firm duration of 365 days, with three six-month options.The first three wells will be Jodari-1, Mzia-1 and Papa-1.
Deepsea Stavanger completed a successful deepwater program in the same area for Ophir Energy in 2011 with BG as partners.
The Metro I drillship is capable of drilling in water depths up to 3,000 meters (9,842 ft). The rig has a dual derrick with a main work center and an auxiliary work center to facilitate simultaneous operations. Both work centers are equipped for drilling. The Metro I was built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries yard in Ulsan, South Korea.
CROSCO rig kicks off operations in Egypt CROSCO Integrated Drilling
CROSCO Integrated Drilling & Well Services Co Ltd recently commenced drilling services for Sipetrol International SA using the 2,000-hp drilling rig Emsco-605. The rig is operating at the Opal Sinai-1 well in the Rommana concession, located in Egypt’s North Sinai region. The contract calls for two firm wells plus one optional well.
“The commencement of CROSCO drilling activities in Egypt signals recommencement of CROSCO drilling activities in North Africa,” Igor Vrban, president of CROSCO, said. The company is preparing additional rigs in Egypt and working to quickly return to work with three rigs based in Libya as well.
Statoil makes discoveries in Barents and North seas
Statoil and its partners Eni Norge and Petoro made a substantial oil discovery in the Havis prospect, in the same license as Skrugard in the Barents Sea. The well, drilled by the Aker Barents semi, has produced a 48-meter gas column and a 128-meter oil column.
Statoil estimates the volumes in Havis to be between 200 million and 300 million barrels of recoverable oil. The updated total volume estimate for the Skrugard and Havis discoveries is between 400-600 million barrels of recoverable oil.
In the North Sea, Statoil’s drilling of the Skinfaks South well has been completed, and the estimated volume is between 1.9 million and 6.9 million barrels of oil equivalents. Skinfaks South is west of the Gullfaks field in the North Sea Tampen area, where Statoil focuses on infrastructure-led exploration (ILX).
In 2012, 40% of Statoil’s exploration wells on the Norwegian continental shelf will be ILX wells.
New Urca Drilling semi to support Brazilian E&P
Urca Drilling has contracted Fernvale, a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine, to design and construct an ultra-deepwater semisubmersible based on Keppel’s proprietary DSS 38E design. The semi is intended to support the exploration of Brazil’s vast offshore hydrocarbon resources, and delivery is expected in Q4 2015.
Urca Drilling is a subsidiary of Sete Brasil, which specializes in chartering drilling rigs for Brazil’s pre-salt exploration.
The DSS 38E is an enhancement of Keppel’s fifth-generation DSS 38. It is designed to meet the requirements of deepwater areas, such as Brazil, Africa and the Gulf of Mexico. The rig will be able to operate in water depths up to 3,000 meters, have a drilling depth of 10,000 meters and accommodate 160 people. It will have vertical and horizontal riser storage and be DP-3 capable.
