Drilling & Completion News

Seadrill to build new jackup, ultra-deepwater drillship, tender barge

Seadrill recently announced several newbuild orders, as well as contracts for existing drilling units.In late March, the company entered an agreement with Singapore’s Jurong Shipyard for the construction of a new jackup. The rig, scheduled to be completed by the end of Q3 2013, is already contracted to ConocoPhillips for a five-year period on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The harsh-environment rig will be capable of drilling in water depths up to 150 meters.Seadrill also exercised an option to build a new ultra-deepwater drillship at the Samsung Shipyard in South Korea, with delivery scheduled for Q3 2013. The rig has a design similar to the two drillships previously ordered from Samsung and will be able to operate in water depths up to 12,000 ft. It will be outfitted with a seven-ram configuration of the BOP stack and a 165-ton capacity heave-compensated crane.A new tender barge, T17, is also being constructed at the COSCO Nantong Shipyard in China, to be delivered in Q1 2013. Its design is similar to the two tender rigs Seadrill ordered from COSCO in February 2011.In April, Seadrill’s semi-tender rig West Menang was awarded an 18-month contract by Murphy Sabah Oil to operate on the Kikeh Spar deepwater field in Malaysia.Further, through its affiliate Sea Dragon de Mexico, Seadrill settled an agreement with Pemex for the provision of the ultra-deepwater semi West Pegasus, previously named the Seadragon I. The rig was recently delivered from the Jurong yard and is mobilizing to Mexico. Commencement of the five-year contract is scheduled to begin in Q3 2011.

Finally, Seadrill was awarded two contracts by BHP Billiton for the Offshore Vigilant in Trinidad and the Offshore Resolute in Vietnam. The three-well contract for the Offshore Vigilant is expected to commence in Q3 2011 and take 150 days. The two-well assignment for the Offshore Resolute is expected to begin in mid-2011 and last 90 days, although there are options for four additional wells that could take 200 more days.

Rotary Drilling Rig 67 drilling in Iraq’s Kurdistan region for Kalegran

Rotary Drilling Company, a subsidiary of CROSCO Integrated Drilling & Well Services, is providing drilling services to MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas subsidiary Kalegran Ltd with the 2,000-hp Rotary 67 rig. The Bekhme 1 well, the first of a two firm well contract, is being drilled in the Akre-Bijeel Block, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Rotary Drilling has established an office in Erbil and expects to mobilize additional equipment there soon.

6 Noble jackups win contracts to drill for Pemex

Noble Corp has been awarded contracts for six jackups with Pemex, all expected to commence in March or April 2011:

• Noble Bill Jennings for 286 days;
• Noble Leonard Jones for 272 days;
• Noble John Sandifer for 624 days;
• Noble Lewis Dugger for 588 days;
• Noble Gene Rosser for 248 days; and
• Noble Earl Frederickson for 139 days.

“These long-awaited contracts are a significant step towards putting our jackup fleet back to work in Mexico,” said Noble chairman, president and CEO David Williams.

Additionally, the contract for the Noble Carl Norberg has been extended for 146 days.

Statoil hires Songa Delta

Songa Offshore subsidiary Songa Rig has been awarded a contract from Statoil for the Songa Delta semi. Statoil intends to use the rig for its fast-track portfolio on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The contract is for a firm three years plus a one-year option.

Japan Drilling orders new jackup from Keppel FELS

Japan Drilling Company has entered an agreement to construct a KFELS Super B Class jackup in Singapore. Delivery of the rig, which will be able to operate in up to 425 ft of water and drill to 35,000 ft, is expected in Q1 2013.

Korea National Oil Corp to partner with Anadarko in Maverick Basin/Eagle Ford

Anadarko Petroleum has signed a joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) giving KNOC a third of Anadarko’s interest in the Maverick Basin of Southwest Texas. “This transaction demonstrates the substantial embedded value of our Eagle Ford acreage position,” Anadarko president and COO Al Walker said.

Samsung to build 2 drillships for Maersk

Maersk Drilling has signed a contract with Samsung Heavy Industries to construct two ultra-deepwater drillships, scheduled for delivery in Q3 and Q4 2013. These will be the first drillships in Maersk Drilling’s ultra-deepwater fleet. They will be able to operate in up to 12,000 ft and drill to more than 40,000 ft. “We see an increasing share of the global oil and gas production coming from deepwater, and this trend will drive a solid growth in the demand for ultra-deepwater drilling services in areas such as Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico,” said Claus V Hemmingsen, Maersk Drilling CEO and AP Moller-Maersk Group Executive Board member.

COSL Drilling Europe has signed a 12-month contract for the accommodation unit COSLRigmar with ConocoPhillips Skandinavia.
The unit will be used in the Greater Ekofisk area.

Barents Sea discovery could open new oil province

Statoil and its partners Eni Norway and Petoro have made a significant oil discovery on the Skrugard prospect in the Barents Sea. Statoil has called this a breakthrough discovery and one of the most important finds on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in the past decade.The well was drilled in a water depth of 373 meters using Transocean’s Polar Pioneer rig, built specifically for the Arctic. The Skrugard prospect is located approximately 100 km north of the Snohvit gas field in the Barents Sea. The estimated volume of the discovery is between 150-250 million recoverable bbl of oil equivalent, and Statoil sees opportunities for further upside in the license of up to 250 million bbl, for a potential of 500 million bbl of oil equivalent. The discovery may open “a new oil province,” said Statoil executive VP for exploration Tim Dodson.

Statoil has plans for the drilling of a new prospect in the same license next year and for a possible appraisal drilling at Skrugard.

Large gas find confirmed near Gorgon in Western Australia

Apache Corp and its partners have made a large gas discovery in the Zola-1 discovery well in license WA-290-P offshore Western Australia. The well logged 410 ft of net pay in three Triassic Mungaroo sands over a depth range of 13,450 ft to 15,100 ft below sea level. Logging tools and formation pressure tests confirmed at least two separate natural gas columns.
Zola-1 is located in the Carnarvon Basin 60 miles north-northwest of Onslow, Western Australia, in a water depth of 930 ft. The discovery is on trend with the Gorgon gas field 16 miles to the north and is near both existing and developing gas infrastructure.

A new seismic survey covering the Zola structure is planned for later in 2011.

Brunei Shell strikes oil in deepwater Brunei

Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) has made a significant oil discovery in deepwater Brunei. The discovery, named Geronggong, is located approximately 100 km offshore in 1,000 meters of water – the deepest water depth at which BSP has discovered hydrocarbons in Bruneian acreage.The discovery well was drilled using the Noble Phoenix drillship. Follow-up plans involve assessment of the full field recovery potential, including further appraisal drilling over the next two years.

Keppel to build jackups for Jasper, Perforadora Central

Jasper Investments has exercised an option with Keppel FELS to build a second KFELS B Class jackup for delivery in the first half of 2013. The option was given when Jasper ordered its first jackup from Keppel in December 2010. Similar to the previous rig, the new jackup will be able to operate in water depths up to 400 ft and drill to 30,000 ft.
Separately, Keppel AmFELS has won a contract from Mexico’s Perforadora Central to build a repeat jackup for delivery in Q1 2013. The rig will be based on the LeTourneau Super 116E design, able to drill wells up to 30,000 ft in water depths up to 375 ft.

Xtreme Coil expands fleet of coiled-tubing service rigs

Xtreme Coil Drilling has agreed to purchase five masted coiled-tubing service rigs as part of a fleet expansion to broaden its coiled-tubing well servicing capability in North American resource plays. The five rigs are intended for re-entry, coiled-tubing clean-outs, fracturing, wellbore extensions, production logging, perforating, stimulations and other well servicing work. They are expected to be service-ready later in 2011 after planned upgrades.