Drilling & Completion News

KCA Deutag wins contract extensions in Europe, 10-year contract to provide 4 new rigs in Oman

KCA Deutag has been awarded a two-year drilling contract extension on five of Equinor’s fixed platforms operating in the Norwegian North Sea: Osberg B, Osberg South, Osberg East, Osberg C and Kvitebjørn. The contract – worth $140 million – is for the provision of drilling operations, maintenance services and engineering support and will now run to September 2024.

KCA Deutag was originally awarded the contract in October 2018 for a period of four years, with an option to extend by three further periods of two years each.

In separate news, KCA Deutag announced it was receiving a 10-year contract from Petroleum Development Oman for the provision of drilling services with four new highly automated rigs that will be built in Oman. 

The contract comes with options to extend for a further two years and, with those options included, has a total value of around $550 million. 

The rigs will be constructed by International Drilling Technology Co (IDTEC) in Oman. IDTEC, majority-owned by the KCA Deutag Group, is the group’s local rig manufacturing and servicing company. The rigs will be the first of their kind to be constructed in Oman, marking a step change in the rig-building capabilities in the country. 

\KCA Deutag will invest approximately $100 million to build the new rigs and expects to commence operations in the second half of 2023. Around 40% of this value will be spent with Omani suppliers, including local small and medium enterprise companies.  

The project has high in-country value, including the establishment of IDTEC as an API-licensed manufacturer for rig structures in Oman, and the training and upskilling of Omani personnel during the construction phase.   

In addition to training its own employees in operating the rigs, KCA Deutag will extend the opportunity to partake in the training, knowledge transfer and rig construction to personnel from other drilling companies. Further, it will offer summer internships to 16 undergraduates from Omani universities to be involved in the design, construction and commissioning of the rigs. KCA Deutag will then offer employment to at least four of these undergraduates upon course completion. 

The rig design and all key components will be provided by KCA Deutag’s new business unit, Kenera, through its Bentec engineering and manufacturing center. The rigs will be highly automated, fast-moving units and will benefit from the latest technologies from KCA Deutag’s Well of Innovation.

Contract wins for Valaris semi in US GOM, Mexico

Valaris has been awarded two one-well contracts with subsidiaries of Murphy Oil for the VALARIS DPS-5 semisubmersible. The first contract is in the US Gulf of Mexico and is expected to commence in Q3 2022 with a minimum duration of 30 days. This contract has a one-well option with an estimated duration of 90 days. The second contract, offshore Mexico, will commence in direct continuation of the first contract and has an estimated duration of 60 days.

Graff-1 well finds oil in deepwater Namibia

The National Petroleum Corp of Namibia (NAMCOR), the Namibian state-owned oil company, and its partners – Shell Namibia Upstream and Qatar Energy – have announced that the Graff-1 deepwater exploration well made a discovery of light oil in both primary and secondary targets.

The well was drilled in the Orange Basin, 270 km from the town of Oranjemund. Drilling operations commenced in early December 2021 and were safely completed in early February 2022.

In the coming months, extensive laboratory analyses will be performed to gain a better understanding of the reservoir quality and potential flow rates achievable. NAMCOR said it anticipates further exploration activity, including a second exploration well, will be required to determine the size and recoverable potential of the identified hydrocarbons.

Appraisal well delineates Winterfell potential in GOM

Kosmos Energy announced it has finished drilling the Winterfell-2 appraisal well on Block 943 in the Green Canyon area of the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The well was drilled to evaluate the adjacent fault block to the northwest of the original Winterfell discovery and was designed to test two horizons that were oil bearing in the Winterfell-1 well, with an exploration tail into a deeper horizon. The well discovered approximately 40 m of net oil pay in the first and second horizons. 

TotalEnergies, Petrofac hire Stena Drilling semisubmersibles to work on UKCS

Stena Drilling recently won new contracts for two of its semisubmersibles. The first contract is with TotalEnergies for the Stena Spey. Operations on the UK Continental Shelf are due to commence in March or April 2022, with an estimated duration of 120 days.

The second contract is with Petrofac for the Stena Don, set to commence in Q4 2022 and lasting an estimated 80 days. The contract was awarded in support of a campaign with one firm well on Tailwind Energy’s Gannet E field in the UK Continental Shelf. The contract includes an option to extend for up to three optional wells on behalf of other clients, with an estimated duration of 55 days.

Maersk secures contract extensions in Malaysia, new contract in Denmark

Sarawak Shell Berhad/Sabah Shell Petroleum Corp (SSB/SSPC) has executed two options on the previously announced contract that will employ the seventh-generation drillship Maersk Viking offshore Malaysia. The first option will be novated to TotalEnergies EP Malaysia for the drilling of one deepwater well for the Tepat project, while the second option will be novated to PETRONAS for the drilling of one deepwater well for the Layang-Layang project. Both projects are located off the coast of Sabah.

The extensions have a total estimated duration of 120 days and are expected to commence in July 2022 in direct continuation of the rig’s prior work scope with SSB/SSPC. The total contract value of the extensions is approximately $32 million, including fees for the use of managed pressure drilling. Three one-well options remain on the contract with Shell Malaysia.

In separate news, Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract with TotalEnergies E&P Danmark to employ the Maersk Reacher jackup for well intervention services in the Danish North Sea. The contract is expected to commence in July 2022, with a duration of 21 months. The contract includes options to extend the duration by up to 27 additional months.

Deepsea Nordkapp confirmed to drill Kobra East Gekko development wells for Aker BP

Aker BP has exercised a scope-based option for Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Nordkapp semisubmersible under a contract originally signed in April 2018. The option covers the time necessary to complete four Kobra East Gekko (KEG) development wells. Operations on the KEG development wells are expected to commence in January 2023, with a combined duration of approximately 430 days. With the current term-based contract ending in June 2023, the newly exercised KEG development scope represents approximately 8.5 months of additional backlog for the Deepsea Nordkapp, occupying the unit into Q1 2024.

The approximate contract value for the exercised optional scope is $80 million, excluding any integrated services.

Further, an additional option period has now been agreed upon. If exercised, it will follow completion of the KEG development wells.

APA Corp sees exploration success with KBD-1 well in Block 58 offshore Suriname

APA Corp has announced an oil discovery at the Krabdagu-1 (KBD-1) exploration well. KBD-1 is located on Block 58 offshore Suriname, approximately 18 km southeast of the Sapakara South-1 appraisal well. APA Suriname holds a 50% working interest in the block, and operator TotalEnergies holds the remaining 50%.

KBD-1 was drilled with the Maersk Valiant to an approximate depth of 17,300 ft (5,273 m). The well was designed to test multiple stacked targets in Maastrichtian and Campanian intervals and encountered approximately 295 ft (90 m) of net oil pay in good-quality reservoirs.

While the rig is on location, TotalEnergies will progress with drill stem and other wellbore testing to assess the resource potential and productivity of two primary reservoirs.

Liza Phase 2 starts production in Guyana, set to reach capacity later this year

Hess has announced startup of production from the Liza Phase 2 development on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, utilizing the Liza Unity FPSO. The oil production capacity of 220,000 gross bbl/day is expected to be reached later this year. The Liza Unity arrived in Guyana in October 2021, following construction in shipyards in China and Singapore. It is moored in water depth of about 1,650 m and will be able to store approximately 2 million barrels of crude oil. The Liza Unity is the world’s first FPSO to be awarded the SUSTAIN-1 notation by ABS in recognition of the sustainability of its design, documentation and operational procedures.