Rialto Energy Limited last week reported that while drilling at Gazelle-P3 well, offshore Ivory Coast, the drill-pipe became stuck at a depth of 1070 meters.
During the process of trying to free the drill-pipe, mechanical problems with the rig equipment occurred which have since been rectified by the drilling contractor, Transocean.
Operations are currently underway to free the stuck drill pipe.
Commenting on the drilling progress, Charlie Nieto, Chief Operating Officer , said: “We have made real progress, having rectified the rig equipment failures during the last week. Fishing operations started over the weekend with resumption of drilling expected in the next few days.”
The Gazelle-P3 well was spudded on 12 March 2012 using the Transocean GSF Monitor jack-up drilling rig. The well is the first of an overall three well drilling programme on CI-202 that is anticipated to take six months to complete, together with testing.
[mappress] Offshore Energy Today Staff, April 12, 2012; Image: Rialto Energy