D&C News
Rowan concludes purchase of Jackups from Petrobras
Rowan has concluded the purchase of two LeTourneau Super 116E jackup rigs, the P-59 and P-60, which were both delivered new into service in 2013, in a public auction from a subsidiary of Petrobras for $38.5 million per unit. The company intends to mobilize these modern jackups to the Middle East from their current location in Brazil in late Q1 2018.
Simmons Edeco begins 10-well drilling program in Mexico
Simmons Edeco has secured a contract from Weatherford de Mexico, a subsidiary of Weatherford International, to provide drilling services to Canadian-based Renaissance Oil and its partner Lukoil. Simmons Edeco will execute the 10-well Chicontepec onshore drilling program on the Amatitlán block in Veracruz, Mexico.
The contractor mobilized Rig 836 to spud the first of the wells, the Amatitlán 1649, in December. To optimize efficiencies, the drilling program will be conducted as much as possible from multi-well pads. Each well will be directionally drilled, targeting the Tertiary sands of the Chicontepec formation.
ENI brings super-giant Zohr field online offshore Egypt
Eni has produced its first gas from the supergiant Zohr field. The discovery, which is located in the Shorouk Block, offshore Egypt, approximately 190 km north of Port Said, is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea, with a potential in excess of 30 tcf of gas in place (approximately 5.5 billion BOE). The field started up in less than two and a half years from the discovery – a record time for a field of this size in deep waters, according to Eni.
New Scandrill rig to drill in Permian Basin for Concho
On 28 November, Scandrill christened the SCAN Quest drilling rig, the contractor’s second high-spec Norseman II Series rig. The rig was designed with technology such as
multiwell pads, 10,000-ft-plus laterals and well depths in excess of 20,000 ft.
The SCAN Quest is a 2,000-hp AC rig that features an OWI multidirectional StealthWalker walking system, four Caterpillar engines with dual gas-blending systems, three 1,600-hp mud pumps with 7,500-psi fluid ends, OWI AC 2,000-hp drawworks, Forum FH-80 Iron Roughneck, Forum S-4000 hydraulic catwalk and the newest GDS TDS11 Hi-TORK Top Drive. The SCAN Quest is also the first rig on which GDS International has installed the TDS 11 with a full Hi-TORK upgrade package, which increases the top drive to 1,200 hp and the performance curve to 54,000 ft/lb of continuous drilling torque at 116 RPM, according to the company.
The SCAN Quest will be drilling in the Permian Basin for Concho Resources.
BSEE approves Alaska arctic exploration drilling
For the first time in more than two years, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has approved an application for permit to drill for Arctic exploration operations on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Eni submitted the application in August and has begun exploratory drilling on Spy Island, an artificial island offshore Alaska. The extended-reach drilling will target a formation in the newly formed Harrison Bay Block 6423 unit, a 13-lease unit on the OCS that BSEE approved in December 2016. Eni will explore the Harrison Bay Block 6423 Unit in partnership with Shell and plans to drill two explorations wells plus two potential sidetracks over the next two years.
KCA Deutag secures land drilling contracts for five rigs
KCA Deutag has secured new contracts for five rigs with a combined contract value of $48 million. The first of those rigs, the T-72, has been awarded a nine-month contract in Pakistan for one firm well, with an additional one well extension option. The T-700, which recently completed two geothermal wells in The Netherlands, has also won a five-month contract for an additional four wells with the same client.
In Algeria, KCA Deutag landed a new contract for the T-220 fast-moving desert rig to drill two firm wells and two optional wells. The company was also awarded a one-year contract for two rigs, the T-210 and T-601, to carry out land drilling operations in South Iraq.
