Drilling & Completion News

Transocean to retire 6 floaters, wins contract for deepwater invictus drillship

Transocean has announced its intent to retire six floaters – GSF Jack Ryan, Sedco Energy, Sedco Express, Cajun Express, Deepwater Pathfinder and Transocean Marianas. The rigs will be classified as held for sale and will be recycled in an environmentally responsible manner. All six rigs were previously cold-stacked. The company will recognize an impairment charge of approximately $1.4 billion during Q3 2017 associated with these actions.

In separate news, Transocean announced that its ultra-deepwater drillship Deepwater Invictus has been awarded a two-year contract plus three one-year priced options with a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. The backlog associated with the firm contract is approximately $106 million. The contract is expected to commence in Q2 2018.

BP begins production from Khazzan gas field in Oman

BP has begun production from the giant Khazzan gas field, which is operated by BP in partnership with Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production. The Khazzan tight gas reserves lie at depths of up to 5 km in narrow bands of extremely hard, dense rock. These complex and challenging conditions require specialized drilling equipment, the precise drilling of both vertical and horizontal wells, and well stimulation to free the gas.

Phase One of the Khazzan development is made up of 200 wells feeding into a two-train central processing facility. Phase One production is expected to plateau at 1 BCF/day of gas. Once the second phase of Khazzan is fully up and running, production is expected to rise to 1.5 BCF/day. In total, approximately 300 wells are expected to be drilled over the estimated lifetime of the Khazzan field. Phases One and Two together will develop an estimated 10.5 trillion cu ft of recoverable gas resources.

Maersk Drilling secures two contracts in Southeast Asia

Maersk Drilling has secured two contracts for the Maersk Deliverer semisubmersible.

The first contract is with JX Nippon for an estimated duration of 30 days. The contract covers the drilling of one well, located offshore Malaysia approximately 160 km northwest of Kota Kinabalu, in a water depth of 1,200 m. The contract is set to begin in Q4 2017.

The second contract is with Total E&P Malaysia. Operations are expected to begin after completion of the contract with JX Nippon.

With an estimated duration of 60 days, the Total contract covers the drilling of one exploration well in Block DW-N Sabah offshore Malaysia. The exploration well will be drilled in a water depth of 2,835 m. Further, the complexity of the well requires managed pressure drilling and pressurized mud cap drilling capabilities.

In separate news, Maersk Drilling has been awarded two contract extensions in the North Sea for the Maersk Resolve and Maersk Resolute jackups. The estimated duration of the two extensions is 105 days. Both rigs had recently been reactivated after having been warm-stacked.

The Maersk Resolve was awarded a contract extension by Wintershall Noordzee BV for the drilling of a third well in an ongoing drilling campaign in the North Sea, which will take place in the Dutch Sector.

The Maersk Resolve is drilling the first well of its contract with Wintershall in the UK sector and will soon move to the Dutch Sector to commence the second well. The duration of the contract extension is up to 90 days. The extension brings the duration of the contract from the original 160-190 days to 210-280 days, with further options included.

In addition, Maersk Drilling has entered into an extension of its contract with Petrogas E&P Netherlands for the Maersk Resolute. The extension covers two workovers at the Haven platform and brings the contract duration from the current 140 days to approximately 155 days.

Ensco ds-7 drillship awarded contract by Noble Energy

Ensco’s ultra-deepwater drillship ENSCO DS-7 has been awarded a contract by Noble Energy to drill two wells and complete four production wells at the Leviathan field development in the Mediterranean Sea offshore Israel.

The contract is expected to commence in March 2018 and be completed in December 2018. The contract includes four one-well priced customer options that, if fully exercised, would extend the contract into 2020. An upgrade is being planned for ENSCO DS-7 to equip the rig with a second blowout preventer that is already in inventory. Cost of the upgrade is estimated at less than $10 million. Following the upgrade, the rig will mobilize to the Mediterranean Sea.

TOTAL joins Chevron in deepwater GOM exploration

TOTAL E&P has entered into an agreement to capture seven prospects operated by Chevron in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The agreement covers 16 blocks. The associated prospects are located in two plays and areas of the Gulf of Mexico: the Wilcox in the central Gulf of Mexico, next to the Anchor discovery, and Norphlet in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, near the Appomattox discovery. TOTAL’s participation in these wells will be between 25% and 40%.

The first of these wells was spudded late July on the Ballymore prospect in Mississippi Canyon, located in the north central Gulf of Mexico.