DEPARTMENTS • DRILLING & COMPLETION NEWS
Angola Block 15 exploration
well a success for ExxonMobil
The recently awarded contract extension for Sonadrill’s Libongos drillship has
a term of 25 months. The rig is managed and operated by Seadrill.

Libongos set to drill 12 more wells offshore Angola
Sonadrill Holding, a 50:50 joint ven-
ture between Seadrill and Sonangol, has
secured a 12-well extension in Angola
for the Libongos drillship at a dayrate
of $402,500. Total contract value for the
firm portion of the contract is approxi-
mately $327 million, inclusive of addi-
tional services. The firm term of the
contract is approximately 25 months.

There are currently three drillships
bareboat-chartered into Sonadrill: a
Seadrill-owned unit, the West Gemini,
and two Sonangol-owned units, the
Quenguela and Libongos. Seadrill man-
ages and operates the units on behalf of
Sonadrill. New contracts add $488 million to Transocean backlog
Transocean announced contract
awards or extensions for five rigs.

Together, the fixtures represent approxi-
mately $488 million of firm backlog.

■ The Deepwater Invictus drillship, was
awarded a new three-well contract with
an estimated 100-day duration in the
US Gulf of Mexico with an independent
operator. ■ The Transocean Barents semisub-
mersible was awarded a new one-well
contract with an estimated 110-day
duration in the UK North Sea with a
major operator.

■ Harbour Energy exercised the third
option on its UK North Sea contract with
the Paul B. Loyd Jr. semisubmersible, for
eight P&A wells, extending the contract
to Q3 2024.

■ In Norway, certain previously dis-
closed options under the Transocean
Norge contract with Wintershall and
OMV have been added to the backlog.

■ TotalEnergies exercised a one-
well option on its contract with the
Development Driller III semisubmers-
ible, working in Suriname. The incre-
mental well is expected to last 90 days.

Velesto Energy wins integrated jackup drilling contract
Hess E&P Malaysia has awarded
Velesto Energy with a contract for the
provision of integrated rig, drilling and
completion services (i-RDC) for Hess’
2022 to 2024 North Malay Basin Full
Field Development Campaign. The con-
tract includes the provision of Velesto’s
NAGA 5 jackup. Under the i-RDC con-
cept, integration of drilling rig services,
6 equipment and, in some cases, procure-
ment of materials for drilling and com-
pletion services are covered under a
single contract between the operator
and one service company as an i-RDC
contractor. Velesto will partner with Halliburton
as its technical partner to drill and com-
plete 14 offshore wells.

A new discovery has been announced
at the Bavuca South-1 exploration well on
Angola Block 15. The well encountered
98 ft (30 m) of high-quality, hydrocarbon-
bearing sandstone. It is located approxi-
mately 365 km northwest off the coast of
Luanda and was drilled in 3,608 ft (1,100 m)
of water by the Valaris DS-9 rig.

The well is part of the Angola Block
15 redevelopment project, operated by
ExxonMobil. The multi-year drilling pro-
gram aims to produce approximately
40,000 bbl/day.

Tullow signs PSC for Côte
d’Ivoire exploration license
Tullow Oil has signed a production-
sharing contract (PSC) for offshore explo-
ration license CI-803 in Côte d’Ivoire.

Tullow will operate the licence with 90%
equity, with the remaining 10% held by
PetroCi. The license strengthens Tullow’s posi-
tion in the Tano Basin, where significant
prospectivity has been identified within
the Cretaceous turbidite plays. These are
similar to the plays producing in the adja-
cent TEN and Jubilee fields.

Precision Drilling bolsters
positions in Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait with new rig deals
Precision Drilling was recently award-
ed four contracts in Kuwait, each with a
five-year term and an optional one-year
renewal. The contract awards are for
the company’s AC Super Triple 3000 HP
rigs and will increase its active rig count
in Kuwait from three rigs to five by the
middle of 2023.

In addition, Precision recently signed
its third drilling rig in Saudi Arabia to a
five-year contract extension, following
two earlier five-year contract signings
last year.

With the three contract extensions in
Saudi Arabia and the Kuwait contract
awards, Precision will have eight rigs
under long-term contracts in the Middle
East stretching into 2028 and represent-
ing approximately $600 million in back-
log revenue.

JAN UARY/FEB RUARY 2023 • D R I LLI N G CO N T R ACTO R