RWE Dea Norge AS, a subsidiary of the German oil and gas company RWE Dea AG, has signed an agreement with Dolphin Drilling AS to use the Bredford Dolphin rig, in cooperation with three other oil companies.
For RWE Dea Norge the contract entails full rig capacity in the years ahead for the planned drilling program in the production license (PL) 420 in the North Sea. The company is the operator and holds 30% interest in the license.
“ Having secured the rig capacity for Titan in 2013 is an important milestone to push the development and operation of the field in the following years, ” says Hans-Joachim Polk, Managing Director of RWE Dea Norge.
Bredford Dolphin will be used to drill an important appraisal well at Titan towards the end of 2013 to confirm the size of the Titan discovery. RWE Dea Norge previously drilled a well at Titan and preliminary estimates of the discovery are 12 million cubic metres (recoverable) oil equivalents. The company is also planning another exploration well in early 2014 with the Leiv Eiriksson rig. RWE Dea is optimistic that the PL420 license will gain significant value.
“ The year ahead will be very active for RWE Dea Norge. As well as drilling two wells at Titan, we’re also going ahead with an exploration well at our PL330 license in the Norwegian Sea, as well as taking important steps in the development of the Zidane field, ” says Polk and points out that RWE Dea Norge is a company with a proactive drilling plan on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The rig agreement with Dolphin Drilling has been concluded with Lundin, Noreco and Repsol, and is coordinated by AGR. The contract is for a total of eight wells over a period of 570 days, with the option of an extension and a minimum of five further wells.
[mappress] Press Release, October 24, 2012; Image: Dolphin Drilling