D&C News

ExxonMobil resumes drilling at Alaska’s Point Thomson

ExxonMobil has resumed drilling at Point Thomson on Alaska’s North Slope as construction continues toward bringing the initial production system online.

The initial production system is designed to produce up to 10,000 BOPD of natural gas condensate and is scheduled for startup in 2016. Two injection wells will work in tandem with a production well, cycling up to 200 million cu ft/day of natural gas through an onsite central processing facility. The condensate will then be transported by a 22-mile pipeline to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

Premier’s Zebedee well strikes oil, gas in Falkland Islands

Premier Oil announced that the Zebedee well, located in PL004b in the Falkland Islands, discovered 81 ft of net oil-bearing reservoir and 55 ft of net gas-bearing reservoir.

The well penetrated multiple targets in the Cretaceous F2 and F3 formations with a total hydrocarbon net pay of 136 ft. The pay is primarily located within two F2 sands: the Hector sand, which contains 55 ft of net gas pay, and the Zebedee sand, which contains 79 ft of net oil pay. No oil-water contact was observed in Zebedee.

The well will now be plugged and abandoned as a successful exploration well. Ocean Rig’s Eirik Raude semisubmersible will then drill the first exploration test of the Elaine/Isobel fan complex in the southern part of the North Falkland Basin with the Isobel Deep well.

Petrobras sets exploratory drilling water depth record

Petrobras has broken a domestic record for exploratory drilling by drilling in a water depth of 2,990 m (9,810 ft). This was achieved in February while drilling a well in the Moita Bonita area of Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, 92 km from the city of Aracaju.

Only six exploration wells around the world have exceeded this depth, according to Petrobras. Of the 50 deepest wells in the world, Petrobras has drilled 15 (30%) of them, the operator stated.
The Papa Terra field is operated by Petrobras (62.5%) in partnership with Chevron (37.5%).

Pacific Drilling is 1st drilling contractor to receive SEMS certificate from COS

Pacific Drilling has become the first drilling contractor to complete the requirements to receive a safety and environmental management system (SEMS) Certificate from the Center for Offshore Safety (COS).

Requirements for this certification include the completion of a third-party SEMS audit against COS requirements. Bureau Veritas Certification (BVC), a COS-accredited audit service provider, found that Pacific Drilling’s SEMS meets applicable requirements in API RP 75 and 30 CFR 250 Subpart S.

“We are honored to be the first drilling contractor to certify its safety and environmental management systems against COS program requirements, and we hope our peers will follow suit,” Tony Seeliger, SVP Operations for Pacific Drilling, said. “Delivering safe and reliable operations is a fundamental component of our company culture.”

Jorge Hercules, VP of BVC, added: “Throughout the audit process, Pacific Drilling demonstrated a strong commitment to QHSE excellence at every level of the organization. The combination of strong vision, leadership and confidence in their operations was key to Pacific Drilling becoming the first contractor to achieve SEMS certification.”

BG Group begins production from Knarr field in Norway

BG Group announced the Petrojarl Knarr FPSO has started production from the Knarr oilfield offshore Norway in the North Sea. The FPSO is moored approximately 120 km off the Norwegian coast; it has a production capacity of 63,000 BOED and a storage capacity of 800,000 bbl.

The Knarr field, discovered in 2008, has estimated gross recoverable reserves of approximately 80 million BOE with a production life of at least 10 years. In 2011, the Knarr field was merged with the Knarr West field into an integrated development. New exploration drilling in the license area is ongoing in order to help extend the production life further.

BG Group is the operator of the field, with a 45% working interest. Partners are Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (25%), Wintershall Norge (20%) and DEA Norge AS (10%).

Click here to visit DC’s Global and Regional Markets microsite where you can find more rig construction and contract news,as well as oil and gas discoveries and field development updates from around the world.

Noble adds new prospect to Falkland Islands campaign

Noble Energy has acquired a 75% interest and operatorship of the PL001 license in the North Falkland Basin from Argos Resources and identified the Rhea prospect as its initial target. Water depth at the anticipated drilling location is approximately 1,550 ft, and the target total well depth is 8,760 ft.

The PL001 license covers an area of nearly 285,000 gross acres and is located northwest of the PL032 license, which includes the Sea Lion oil discovery.

Rhea is a Cretaceous-aged stratigraphic trap prospect with multiple reservoir targets and total estimated gross mean unrisked resources in excess of 250 million bbl of oil. Rhea is anticipated to commence drilling in Q3 2015 with Noble Energy’s second slot on the 2015 Falkland Islands drilling campaign.

In addition, the company’s initial operated Falkland Islands prospect, Humpback, is expected to commence drilling by early May 2015.

Archer modular rig moved to Statoil’s Heimdal platform

Archer has commenced operations to permanently plug and abandon 12 gas wells on Statoil’s Heimdal platform in the Norwegian North Sea using the Archer Topaz modular rig. The rig can be rigged up on most offshore installations and perform the majority of drilling operations carried out from a platform, including completions and plug and abandonment. The flexibility of the Archer Topaz made it well-suited for the Heimdal field center where, in addition to the ongoing plug and abandonment activity, installation upgrades are under way to keep the field operational as a gas processing and distribution hub until 2030.

Maersk Voyager secures contract to drill offshore Ghana

Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract from Eni Ghana E&P for employment of the newbuild drillship Maersk Voyager. The firm contract period is 3.5 years, with an option to extend by one year. The total estimated revenue from the firm contract is $545 million, including mobilization and escalations. The Maersk Voyager will work on the Offshore Cape Three Points Project offshore Ghana, with expected commencement in July 2015. The Maersk Voyager is the last in a series of four ultra-deepwater drillships being added to Maersk Drilling’s rig fleet. The rig was delivered on 6 February from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard.

Tullow’s Engomo-1, 1st well in North Turkana Basin onshore Kenya, drilled to 2,353-m TD

The Engomo-1 exploration well in Block 10BA onshore Kenya was drilled to a total depth of 2,353 m utilizing the SMP Drilling’s SMP-106 rig, Tullow Oil announced on 11 March. The well encountered interbedded sandstones, siltstones and claystones but no significant oil or gas shows. The well has been plugged and abandoned.

Engomo-1 was the first well drilled in the large North Turkana Basin and is located west of Lake Turkana, where numerous naturally occurring oil slicks and seeps have been observed. Analysis is focused on high-grading the remaining prospectivity in the basin.

Tullow Oil is continuing its extensive exploration and appraisal program in the South Lokichar Basin in Blocks 10BB and 13T, which has the joint objectives of proving reservoir quality and defining the resource estimates to ultimately progress the development of the discovered resources.

Tullow Operates Blocks 10BB, 13T and 10BA with 50% equity and is partnered by Africa Oil Corp, also with 50%.