Drilling & Completion News
Petrobras awards long-term contract to Constellation’s deepwater semi
Constellation announced its Alpha Star semisubmersible was awarded a new contract with Petrobras. The contract, which adds $392 million to Constellation’s contract backlog, has a firm duration of 1,095 days, plus a mutually agreed option to extend it for the same period. The scope of work includes drilling, completion and workover of wells in water depths of up to 2,400 m. Operations are expected to commence after the rig is released by its contract with 3R Petroleum.
Alpha Star is an ultra-deepwater DP semisubmersible that started operations in July 2011. The rig is capable of drilling in water depths of up to 9,000 ft and has a drilling depth capacity of up to 30,000 ft.
DST on Namibia’s Venus-1X discovery shows positive results; Venus-1A soon to be tested
Africa Oil Corp recently announced positive drill stem test (DST) results for the Venus-1X well, drilled in 2022 on Block 2913B offshore Namibia. The Deepsea Mira semi reentered and sidetracked the well and flowed oil with positive results. Those results are being interpreted and will be incorporated into development studies.
The Venus-1A appraisal well, located approximately 13 km northwest of the Venus-1X discovery, has been drilled to a total depth of 6,146 m, cored and logged using the Tungsten Explorer drillship. The Deepsea Mira is expected to soon reenter Venus-1A to undertake a DST program.
Further, the Tungsten Explorer was being mobilized to drill the Mangetti-1X well on Block 2913B, targeting a prospect located to the north of the Venus structure. Drilling was expected to begin in October.
The Venus discovery, operated by TotalEnergies, is a world-class light oil and associated gas field located in the Orange Basin, off the coast of southern Namibia.
Valaris drillship and jackup secure additional work offshore Brazil, Indonesia
Valaris recently announced a one-well contract with BP offshore Brazil for the VALARIS DS-15 drillship. The contract is expected to commence in late Q1 or early Q2 2024 in direct continuation of the rig’s current program, with TotalEnergies. It has an estimated duration of 80 days and an estimated value of approximately $33 million.
Separately, BP Indonesia exercised a five-well priced option for the VALARIS 106 jackup. The option period is expected to commence in January 2024, in direct continuation of the existing firm program, and has an estimated duration of 365 days. The operating dayrate is $85,000 effective from 6 January 2024 and will increase to $95,000 from 6 January 2025.
KCA Deutag wins contracts, extensions in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Pakistan
KCA Deutag was awarded contract extensions and an equipment upgrade project in Saudi Arabia with a combined value of $292 million. The contract extensions amount to a total of 23 years of additional work across four rigs, while the equipment upgrade project includes the delivery of mechanized catwalks on two rigs.
In Oman, the company also extended two existing contracts and gained a new contract with a total value of $78 million.
Further, one rig in Pakistan has secured a new one-year contract, with a value of $9 million.
Studies kicked off for Suriname’s Block 58, expected to result in FID by year-end 2024
TotalEnergies and APA Corp have launched development studies for a large oil project in Block 58 offshore Suriname. Successful appraisal of the two main oil discoveries, with the drilling and testing of two wells at Sapakara South and three wells at Krabdagu, confirmed combined recoverable resources of approximately 700 million bbl of oil for the two fields.
These fields, located in water depths between 100 and 1,000 m, will be produced through a system of subsea wells connected to a floating production, storage and offloading unit with an oil production capacity of 200,000 bbl/day. The detailed engineering studies will start by year-end 2023, and the final investment decision (FID) is expected by year-end 2024. First production is targeted for 2028.
2 COSL semisubmersibles win contracts from Equinor to drill offshore Norway
Equinor has awarded COSL Offshore Management contracts, valued at approximately $369 million each, for the COSLPromoter and COSLInnovator semisubmersibles on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The COSLPromoter is already contracted to Equinor and will commence the new one-year contract, with options for four additional years, in Q1 2025. The COSLInnovator is contracted for two years, starting in Q2 2025, and the contract includes options for a further three years.
