Drilling & Completion News

Drilling completed on Zama-1 well offshore Mexico

Talos Energy, along with its joint venture partners Premier Oil and Sierra Oil & Gas, has completed drilling operations on the Zama-1 exploration well in Block 7 offshore Mexico. The well reached a total depth of 13,840 ft. It is the first offshore exploration well drilled by the private sector in Mexico’s history.

Well results confirmed the base of the reservoir section, with no penetration of an oil-water-contact. The well drilled deeper into a higher risk formation, and no additional hydrocarbons were encountered. Initial gross original oil in place estimates for the well range from 1.4 billion to 2 billion bbl, some of which could extend into a neighboring block. The well has been suspended as a future producer.

The well, which is located in 546 ft of water and approximately 37 miles from the Port of Dos Bocas, spudded on 21 May 2017 with the Ensco 8503 semi. In 2015, Talos and its partners executed two production-sharing contracts (PSCs) with Mexico’s upstream regulator, the National Hydrocarbons Commission, for Block 2 and Block 7. The PSCs were awarded to the consortium during the first tender of Mexico’s oil and natural gas fields in more than 80 years.

BP well highlights potential of New Mexico Mancos shale

BP has brought online a highly productive natural gas well in the Mancos Shale, highlighting the potential of the New Mexico field to be a significant new source of US natural gas supply.

Early production rates at the NEBU 602 Com 1H well in San Juan County are the highest achieved in the past 14 years within the San Juan Basin, a large oil and gas producing area spanning southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico that includes the Mancos Shale.

The well achieved an average 30-day initial production rate of 12.9 million cu ft/day. The well test took place on assets BP acquired in late 2015.

Seadrill secures contract for West Saturn drillship in Brazil

Seadrill has secured a firm contract for one well and one drill stem test with Statoil Brasil Óleo e Gas for the West Saturn drillship in Brazil. The contract includes a number of option wells to be drilled in blocks where Statoil has license and operatorship.

The West Saturn is expected to commence operations between December 2017 and January 2018.

The backlog for the firm portion of the contract is expected to be approximately $26 million. The drillship will be upgraded with a managed pressure drilling (MPD) system, which is expected to be utilized as part of the upcoming work scope.

TOTAL, NIOC sign 20-year contract for Iran’s south pars

Total and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) have signed a contract for the development and production of phase 11 of South Pars (SP11), the world’s largest gas field.

The project will have a production capacity of 2 billion cu ft/day or 400,000 BOED, including condensate. The produced gas will supply the Iranian domestic market starting in 2021.

This contract, which has a 20-year duration, is the first Iranian petroleum contract and is based on the technical, contractual and commercial terms as per the heads of agreement signed on 8 November 2016. Total is the operator of the SP11 project, with a 50.1% interest, alongside China’s CNPC (30%) and Petropars (19.9%), a wholly owned subsidiary of NIOC.

SP11 will be developed in two phases. The first phase, with an estimated cost of approximately $2 billion, will consist of 30 wells and two wellhead platforms connected to existing onshore treatment facilities by two subsea pipelines.

At a later stage, a second phase will be launched involving the construction of offshore compression facilities, a first on the South Pars field.

Ensco secures three contracts offshore West Africa

Ensco has been awarded three drillship contracts offshore West Africa, representing an aggregate three years of contracted term and more than six years of options.

The ENSCO DS-4 was to commence a two-year contract with Chevron offshore Nigeria in August 2017. The contract includes a priced customer option for one additional year of work. Ensco recently reactivated the rig; reactivation expenses are expected to total $28 million. In addition, $15 million of capital upgrades were added to the rig.

The ENSCO DS-10 is scheduled to commence work with Shell offshore Nigeria in Q1 2018. The contract duration is for one year and includes five one-year priced customer options. As a result of winning this contract, the rig’s delivery is expected to be accelerated into Q3 2017 from Q1 2019. ENSCO DS-10 will then undergo a period of acceptance testing before mobilizing to Nigeria to begin its maiden contract. Remaining capital expenditures associated with the rig are expected to total approximately $190 million.

The ENSCO DS-7 is contracted to Total until November 2017. Since November 2016, the rig has been idle in Tenerife, earning a standby rate following early termination of its original contract. ENSCO DS-7 was scheduled to mobilize to Ivory Coast to drill one well beginning in August 2017 that is expected to take 60 days to complete. Additionally, Total has a priced option for one further well.