Drilling & Completion News

Statoil’s fast-tracked Skuld development starts production

Statoil, with its partners Eni and Petoro, has started production from the Skuld field at Norne in the Norwegian Sea. Skuld is so far the quickest realized of Statoil’s 12 fast-track development projects, measured from discovery to production. Skuld consists of two discoveries, Fossekall and Dompap. The recoverable reserves at Skuld have been calculated at 90 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Skuld will make up more than half of Statoil’s increased production this year from fields where the company is the operator on the Norwegian shelf. The field is connected to the Norne production vessel, which is also producing for the Norne, Urd, Alve and Marulk fields.

“We have so far completed five wells within 15 months and will continue with further wells later this year. Recoverable gas volumes in the range of 10 to 13 Tcf bring further robustness to a future decision on a potential LNG project,” Tim Dodson, executive vice president for exploration at Statoil, said.

Separately, offshore Tanzania, Statoil has made its third high-impact discovery in Block 2 this year, along with ExxonMobil. The discovery of 4 to 6 Tcf of natural gas in place in the Tangawizi-1 well brings the total in-place volumes up to 15 to 17 Tcf.

The Tangawizi-1 discovery was made in sandstone of tertiary age. The discovery is 6 miles (10 km) from the Zafarani and Lavani discoveries. It is located in water depths of 2,300 meters and was drilled by Ocean Rig’s Ocean Rig Poseidon drillship.

Centrica delivers first production from Rhyl field

Centrica Energy has begun production from the Rhyl gas field in Morecambe Bay offshore the UK. The field, located 24 miles (39 km) off the coast of Barrow, was discovered in 2009. Gas from Rhyl will be produced through Centrica’s existing North Morecambe platform, then be piped to the Barrow terminal complex for processing.

This is the first new field to be brought on stream in the area for 10 years, according to Centrica, and represents a milestone in extending the life of the company’s Morecambe Bay operations, taking production well beyond 2020.

Iara well confirms extension of Santos Basin pre-salt discovery

Petrobras has confirmed the presence of good-quality oil in well 3-RJS-706 (3-BRSA-1132-RJS), located in block BMS-11 of the Iara area, in the pre-salt Santos Basin. The well is 140 miles (226 km) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro and 4 miles (6 km) from the discovery well (1-RJS-656, Iara), in a water depth of 7,208 ft (2,197 meters).

The well, the fourth in the Iara area, is still at the drilling stage, which will continue with the aim of defining reservoirs containing oil. Cable samples have confirmed API 28º oil in good-quality carbonate reservoirs, starting at a depth of 17,257 ft (5,260 meters).

Petrobras is the operator (65%) in partnership with BG E&P Brasil (25%) and Petrogal Brasil/Galp Energia (10%).

Keppel to build 4 more jackups for Mexican offshore market

Keppel FELS has secured contracts from Mexican drilling company Grupo R to build four jackups worth US $820 million.

The jackups will be built to Keppel’s proprietary KFELS B Class design and are scheduled for delivery progressively from Q2 2015 to Q4 2015.

When completed, Keppel FELS will have built 10 KFELS B Class jackups for Mexican customers since 2012, including two for PEMEX. The KFELS B Class rigs incorporate Keppel’s advanced and fully automated, high-capacity rack and pinion jacking system and self-positioning fixation system. It provides maximum uptime with reduced emissions and discharges.

Qatar Petroleum, Wintershall finds gas in Block 4 North

Qatar Petroleum and Wintershall recently made a gas discovery offshore Qatar. Block 4 North, north of Qatar, is in direct proximity to the North Field at a water depth of 230 ft (70 meters).

Qatar Petroleum and Wintershall entered into an exploration and production-sharing agreement (EPSA) for Block 4 North in 2008. Mitsui Gas Development Qatar joined in 2010. The Gulf state has proven natural gas reserves of about 890 Tcf, most of which is located in its offshore North Field.

Angola deepwater well another success for Eni

Eni has made the ninth oil discovery in Block 15/06 in Angola’s deepwater, increasing the resource base of the West Hub project. The discovery was made through the Vandumbu 1 well, located approximately 93 miles (150 km) from the coast. The well was drilled in a water depth of 3,202 ft (976 meters) and reached a total depth of 13,474 ft (4,107 meters).

Separately, a joint venture of Eni has started production from the Junin-5 heavy oil field offshore Venezuela. The field, located in the Faja del Orinoco, is operated by PetroJunín, a joint venture formed by Petróleos de Venezuela and Eni. The block is 342 miles (550 km) southeast of Caracas and covers an area of approximately 164 sq miles (425 sq km). PetroJunín plans to increase production to 15,000 bbl/day by year end and to 75,000 bbl/day by early 2015, through the drilling of 180 wells.

Songa Venus secures contract extension

Songa Offshore recently entered a contract extension and farm-out agreement with Mubadala Petroleum from a current contract with Petronas. The extension for the Songa Venus will cover four firm wells in Vietnam and Malaysia under current contract terms. This extension will see the unit occupied until October 2013, and the extension has an aggregated revenue value of approximately $21 million.

Newfield strikes natural gas offshore Malaysia

Newfield Exploration Co has made a significant natural gas discovery on the Block SK 310 production-sharing contract area, 50 miles offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, in approximately 250 ft (76 meters) of water. This is Newfield’s second pinnacle reef natural gas discovery in the region.

The B-14 well encountered 1,800 ft (549 meters) of gross column and 1,585 ft (483 meters) of net natural gas pay in the main carbonate objective. A drill stem test was recently conducted, which confirmed commerciality of the reservoir. Newfield estimates that gas initially in place ranges from 1.5 to 3.0 Tcf.

Seadrill orders two more jackups for 2015 delivery

Seadrill has exercised fixed-price options for the construction of two high-specification jackups at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore (DSIC Offshore) in China. The rigs are scheduled for delivery during Q3 and Q4 2015.

The two new units will be based on the F&G JU2000E design, with water-depth capacity of 400 ft and drilling depth capability of 30,000 ft. The estimated total project price per rig is approximately $230 million, including project management, capitalized interest, drilling and handling tools, spares and operation preparations.

Seadrill now has six jackups under construction at DSIC Offshore, of which two are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and four in 2015.

Noble Energy brings Tamar field online offshore Israel

Noble Energy’s Tamar natural gas field offshore Israel has been successfully brought online, with all five of the subsea wells producing at stable rates totaling approximately 300 MMcf/d. When combined with existing Mari-B volumes, the total current sales are approximately 500 MMcf/d and are expected to average 700 MMcf/d through the remainder of the year. The development is designed to deliver natural gas at rates up to 1 Bcf/d.

The gross resource estimate of Tamar has been increased to 10 Tcf, up from 9 Tcf, as a result of development drilling and continued reservoir analysis and modeling.

Also offshore Israel, Noble’s Leviathan #4 appraisal well was recently drilled to a total depth of 16,992 ft (5,179 meters) and encountered 454 ft (138 meters) of natural gas pay in multiple intervals, the thickest net pay of any well drilled to date at Leviathan. Reservoir quality and the fieldwide gas/water contact were confirmed at the well location, and 240 ft (73 meters) of core were recovered. The results have led to an increase in the estimated recoverable gross mean resources of the field to 18.