D&C News

Bully II drill tower bound for installation

The drill tower for the Noble Bully II drillship left the Huisman quay in Schiedam, The Netherlands, in late September for the Keppel shipyard in Singapore, where it is expected to arrive by early November. Most equipment has been manufactured at the Huisman production facility in The Netherlands. The drill tower has been upended on the quay, fully assembled and tested prior to transportation. The top drive, including service loops, was installed and tested. One of the setback carousels, including four pipe rackers, has been installed, enabling testing of the pipe-handling system in Schiedam. The drill tower will be installed onboard the vessel with a single lift. Testing and commissioning will start soon after the installation onboard the Noble Bully II.

Apart from the drilling tower, Huisman also delivered all equipment for the handling of drill pipe, casings, marine risers, subsea and surface BOPs and X-mas trees, the riser tensioning system, both deck cranes and both drillers cabins. With the equipment come all power systems, as well as an integrated control system.

KCA DEUTAG land rig begins operations in Iraq

KCA DEUTAG has commenced operations in Iraq with the deployment of one rig in the north of the country and a second to be mobilized shortly. The company’s second Iraqi rig, a newbuild 2,000-hp land rig, T-601, is expected be operational in Basra, southern Iraq, by early 2011.

The company also plans to ship a third rig from Dubai into the region, expected to be operational in 2011. Further, it is in the process of building two additional 1,500-hp Speed Rigs, manufactured by Bentec, to address the specific drilling and operating requirements of Iraq. They are expected to go into service during 2012.

Tim Summers, KCA DEUTAG chairman, said: “Iraq is a key strategic market for KCA DEUTAG as the country looks to develop its huge reserves base. Even before the Iraqi government increased their estimate of the country’s proven oil reserves by 25% to 143 billion barrels, the Iraq Drilling Company was planning to drill more than 250 wells each year from 2011.”

CNOOC, Chesapeake set to jointly develop Eagle Ford

China’s CNOOC is set to purchase a 33.3% undivided interest in Chesapeake Energy’s 600,000 net oil and natural gas leasehold acres in the Eagle Ford Shale project in South Texas, for $1.08 billion in cash to be paid at closing. In addition, CNOOC will fund 75% of Chesapeake’s share of drilling and completion costs until an additional $1.08 billion has been paid.

Chesapeake is currently operating 10 rigs to develop its Eagle Ford leasehold. That is expected to increase to 12 rigs by year-end 2010, 31 rigs by year-end 2011 and 40 rigs by year-end 2012. Approximately 900 wells are expected to be drilled by year-end 2012.  Chesapeake anticipates the project will reach its peak production of 400,000-500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the next decade.

The assets are located principally in the counties of Webb, Dimmitt, LaSalle, Zavala, Frio and McMullen and are located primarily in the oil window and the wet gas window of the Eagle Ford Shale and in the dry gas window of the Pearsall Shale.

Statoil acquires Eagle Ford acreage, teams with Talisman

Statoil is entering the Eagle Ford shale area through agreements with Enduring Resources and Talisman Energy to acquire 67,000 net acres in Southwest Texas. Statoil and Talisman have formed a 50/50 joint venture where they will jointly acquire the Eagle Ford assets of Enduring. Furthermore, Statoil will acquire 50% of Talisman’s existing Eagle Ford acreage and production. Initially, Talisman will take the lead as operator for the total acreage, with Statoil taking over the operatorship of 50% of the acreage within three years.

CROSCO rig drilling for INA in Egypt

As of October 2010, CROSCO Integrated Drilling & Well Services was providing drilling services for Croatia’s INA INDUSTRIJA NAFTE in Egypt with the 2,000-hp Emsco 602 (above) on exploration well El Neamma in the East Yidma concession. Separately, CROSCO announced that it is also providing drilling and cementing services for Bankers Petroleum Albania with the 1,000-hp Ideco 301.

TOTAL makes oil, gas discoveries offshore Vietnam, Brunei

Total recently announced discoveries offshore Vietnam and Brunei.

In Vietnam, Total E&P Vietnam and its partners on Block 15-1/05 discovered oil in the Lac Da Vang prospect, in the southern part of the block. The Lac Da Vang exploration well is located approximately 125 km east of the city of Vung Tau, about 65 km off of the coast, and was drilled in a water depth of 48 m. The well produced up to 3,500 bbl/day of API 43° oil during tests.

This was the second exploration well drilled on this block, which was attributed in 2007, and the second discovery made here in less than a year. Phu Quy Petroleum Co, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam E&P Corp, is the operator.
In Brunei, Total E&P Borneo and its partners made a significant new gas and condensate discovery in Block B. Well ML-5, located in a water depth of 65 m, was drilled 8 km south of the Maharaja Lela/Jamalulalam field in a new deep-fault panel. It discovered gas with condensate in high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) formations.
With a total vertical depth of 5,664 m, the well is the deepest ever drilled in Brunei. A total of 10 million cu ft/day of gas and 220 bbl/day of condensate were produced during the test from a limited zone at 5,350-m depth. This is the deepest successful test in Southeast Asia. The gross thickness of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation exceeds 800 m.
ML-5 is the third positive well of an exploration campaign that started in 2007, targeting the deep HPHT horizons of the Maharaja Lela structure. The development of the new resources and production through the existing facilities is being studied.

Atwood orders 2 400-ft jackups with options for 3 more

Atwood Oceanics Pacific executed turnkey construction agreements with PPL Shipyard to construct two Pacific-class 400 jackups. These new rigs will have a rated water depth of 400 ft, accommodations for 150 personnel and significant offline handling features. The two rigs are scheduled for delivery on 30 September 2012 and 31 December 2012, respectively. The total cost, including project management, drilling and handling tools, spares and capitalized interest, of each approximates $190 million.

Atwood and PPL have arranged option agreements for up to three additional Pacific-class 400 jackups.

Separately, Atwood announced Atwood Condor as the name for its ultra-deepwater dynamically positioned semisubmersible to be delivered from Jurong Shipyard in Singapore by mid-2012. The vessel is an ExD Millennium-class ultra-deepwater DP semisubmersible with 10,000-ft water depth capability. Operating capabilities include a six-ram blowout preventer, including three shear rams, high-pressure shearing capacity and enhanced subsea energy for activating subsea functions, high-torque top drive providing one million-lb rotating hookload, low-emissions engines and accommodations for 200 personnel.

Further, the Atwood Eagle has been awarded a six-month contract extension by Chevron Australia. By the end of this contract commitment, the Atwood Osprey newbuild, still under construction, is expected to have been delivered to Chevron, according to Atwood.

Ocean Rig to provide drillship for drilling offshore West Africa

Ocean Rig has signed a contract with Vanco Overseas Energy subsidiaries for a five-well program for exploration drilling offshore Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire for a period of about one year with one drillship, commencing in Q2 2011. The company has the option to use either the Ocean Rig Corcovado or the Ocean Rig Olympia. These two drillships are expected to be delivered from the Samsung shipyard in Q1 2011. The contract may be extended for an additional year or an additional well.

Maersk Deliverer to drill in Gulf of Guinea

Maersk Drilling has signed a contract with Africa Petroleum Corp for a two-well program in the Gulf of Guinea for the ultra-deepwater semisubmersible Maersk Deliverer. The program will commence in Q2 2011 in direct continuation of another assignment in West Africa. The two wells are expected to have a combined duration of around 100 days. The Maersk Deliverer is a newbuild that was delivered earlier this year.