Drilling & Completion News
KCA Deutag wins Lukoil contract for arctic rigs, enters offshore Canadian market
KCA Deutag’s land division has been awarded a contract worth more than $90 million by Russia’s second-largest oil company, Lukoil, for the supply of two arctic cluster slider rigs in the northern republic of Komi, Russia.
The first rig deployed was an existing rig from within KCA Deutag’s Russian operations, and the second will be a newbuild. The three-year contract for arctic drilling rigs T-505 and T-506 comes with two one-year options, which could see the project continue into 2019. The design and fabrication for the T-506, an HR-5000 series rig, will be undertaken by Bentec at its Tyumen facility in Russia.
In related news, KCA Deutag has entered the offshore Canadian drilling sector following the award of its first contract in Canada with ExxonMobil Canada Properties. KCA Deutag will perform drilling operations and maintenance services on the Hebron platform. The contract will commence with an estimated three-year pre-operations phase, followed by a nine-year operations and maintenance program, with an option to extend.
Precision to add another newbuild to Middle East
Precision Drilling has been awarded a contract for a 1,500-hp newbuild that will operate for an operator in the Middle East, with deployment expected in mid-2015. The rig will be the ninth Middle East deployment for Precision since mid-2012.
This latest newbuild announcement follow the two previously announced ST-3000 rig deployments to Kuwait and the newbuild ST-2000 rig that is expected to be mobilized to Saudi Arabia in late 2014.
Ocean Rig Skyros to drill offshore Angola for Total
Ocean Rig has signed a definitive agreement with Total E&P Angola for its ultra-deepwater drillship, the Ocean Rig Skyros. The agreement is a six-year contract for operations in Block 32 offshore Angola and is expected to commence in Q3 2015.
Piri yields another win offshore Tanzania
Statoil and ExxonMobil havemade their sixth discovery and fifth high-impact discovery in the Piri prospect, located in Block 2 offshore Tanzania. An additional 2-3 trillion cu ft (Tcf) of natural gas in place in the Piri-1 well brings total in-place volumes up to 20 Tcf in Block 2. Transocean’s Discoverer Americas drillship drilled the well in 2,360 m of water.
Testing completed for new Archer platform rig
Test operations of MAX STREICHER GmbH’s offshore rig VDD 400.2, which have been ongoing since March, have been completed at the company’s location in Deggenau, Germany. The rig will be used on Statoil’s Heimdal gas platform in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, likely for the decommissioning and sealing of existing bore holes.
In early 2013, Archer Topaz, a subsidiary of Archer, contracted STREICHER for the construction of a second offshore drilling rig. This rig was developed on the basis of the modular and partially automated concept of the VDD 400.1. This included a fully automated pipe handler and features for easy transportation, erection and dismounting.
The 400.2 also features a pipe deck with a supporting structure of approximately 200 tons. It can store rods and pipes up to 150 tons. The deck will be delivered in approximately 30 modules. Transformers, instead of generators, supply the power for the rig on the Heimdal platform.
Construction of the second rig took more than one year to complete.
Petrobras reduces pre-salt drilling time by 55%
Petrobras has been able to reduce drilling time by 55% in the pre-salt layer of the Lula and Sapinhoá fields, going from 126 days in 2010 to 60 days in 2013. With the reduction in drilling time and estimating $1 million per day in well costs, the company said it has saved an average of $66 million in drilling costs per pre-salt well. This is in line with the well cost reduction program started in 2013. Over the next five years, Petrobras plans to invest approximately $70 billion in construction of exploration wells and production development in Brazil.
In separate news, the company also received three new maintenance and safety units in the Campos Basin, part of a revitalization campaign. The units are connected to the PNA-1 production platform in the Namorado field, the PCH-2 platform in Cherne and the PGP-1 in Garoupa.
Seadrill drillship wins 5-year deal for Nigeria
Seadrill has signed a firm five-year contract with Total Upstream Nigeria for the ultra-deepwater drillship West Jupiter. The sixth-generation rig is under construction at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje, South Korea, with delivery expected in August 2014. The rig will be capable of operating in water depths up to 12,000 ft and drilling depths up to 37,500 ft.
In related news, Seadrill and its 74%-owned subsidiary North Atlantic Drilling Ltd (NADL) have announced an investment and cooperation agreement with Rosneft to pursue opportunities in the Russian market through at least 2022. As part of these proposed opportunities, NADL will enter the onshore drilling market in Russia and enter into contracts for multiple offshore assets. In addition, Rosneft is expected to acquire a significant equity stake in NADL.
NADL has already been contracted to drill two wells in the Kara Sea, as part of Rosneft and ExxonMobil’s joint venture, during 2014 and 2015.
Lamprell delivers 4th of 6 jackups to NDC
Lamprell has completed the fourth rig, Marawwah, in a series of six identical newbuild jackups for Abu Dhabi’s National Drilling Co (NDC). All six rigs feature the Cameron LeTourneau Super 116E (Enhanced) Class design. The newest rig was delivered to NDC following the delivery of the third rig, Qarnin, in February 2014. The remaining two rigs will be delivered in late 2014 and early 2015.
H&P secures contracts for 9 FlexRig newbuilds
Helmerich & Payne (H&P) has entered into agreements with five E&P companies to build and operate nine FlexRigs in the US under multi-year term contracts. These agreements bring the total number of newbuild commitments announced in the company’s fiscal year 2014 to 53 FlexRigs.
The company also plans to increase its FlexRig construction cadence from three to four rigs per month beginning in September of this year. As of early June, H&P’s fleet included 328 land rigs in the US, 32 international land rigs and nine offshore platform rigs.
Eni appraises Agulha discovery offshore Mozambique
Eni has completed an appraisal campaign in the southern part of Area 4, offshore Mozambique, at the Agulha discovery. The delineation was carried out through the Agulha 2 well, which was drilled in a water depth of 2,603 m and reached TD at 5,645 m. The Agulha 2 well found a 25-m gas column in good-quality Paleocene reservoir sandstones.
Shell to sell Eagle Ford assets under restructuring plan
Shell has agreed to sell approximately 106,000 net acres in Dimmit, LaSalle and Webb counties in Texas to Sanchez Energy for about $639 million, subject to closing. The sale includes approximately 176 operated producing wells, associated field facilities and infrastructure.
Net production from these Eagle Ford assets in Q1 2014 was about 24,000 bbl of oil equivalent per day. The sale is part of Shell’s restructuring of its North American resources plays portfolio to focus on positions that can reach the scale required by Shell.
ExxonMobil increases Permian Basin acreage
ExxonMobil is adding nearly 26,000 acres to its US oil and natural gas portfolio, which is managed by subsidiary XTO Energy, through a non-monetary exchange with LINN Energy.
XTO will receive 25,000 net acres in the northern Midland core area that is most prospective for horizontal Wolfcamp and Spraberry development. Current production on those assets is approximately 2,000 bbl of oil equivalent per day. XTO will also receive 1,000 net acres in the New Mexico Delaware Basin that augments its existing leasehold and near-term development. In exchange, LINN Energy will receive a portion of XTO’s interest in the Hugoton gas field in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Tullow plans more wells to test Ngamia area in Kenya
Tullow Oil’s Ngamia-2 appraisal well in northern Kenya has encountered up to 39 m of net oil pay and 11 m of net gas pay. The PR Marriott 46 rig was used to drill the well, which was drilled 1.7 km from the Ngamia-1 discovery well. The reservoirs had more than 200 m of net reservoir sands with good permeability. The rig will drill up to four additional appraisal wells in the Ngamia area for an extended well test program.
More rig construction and contracts news, as well as oil and gas discoveries and field development updates from around the world, are available on DC’s Global and Regional Markets microsite. Click here to visit the site.
