Offshore driller Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract for the harsh environment jack-up rig Maersk Gallant by Nexen Petroleum U.K., a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited.
The driller said on Monday that the contract covers the drilling of the High-pressure, High-temperature (HPHT) exploration Glengorm well, in the UK sector of the North Sea. The contract duration is estimated for 140 days and is expected to start in the third quarter of 2017.
Michael Reimer Mortensen , Vice President and Head of Global Sales in Maersk Drilling, said: “Despite the current market downturn, Maersk Drilling has secured three new contracts in the past four months.”
He added: “We look forward to working closely with Nexen in delivering a safe and efficient drilling campaign.”
According to the owner, Mærsk Gallant has experience in drilling HPHT wells, including a recent Ultra HPHT well for oil major Total in Norway. On this Ultra HPHT well for Total, Mærsk Gallant was adapted to drill an 18,000 PSI reservoir with a maximum expected wellhead pressure in excess of 16,000 PSI.
Mærsk Gallant is currently on contract with Maersk Oil , performing plug and abandonment operations of the Leadon and James subsea fields in the UK sector of the North Sea.
However, in agreement with Maersk Oil, this campaign will be put on hold while the drilling of the Glengorm well is ongoing for Nexen, the offshore driller said.
Following the drilling campaign for Nexen, the rig will return to complete the plug and abandonment operations of the Leadon and James fields in April 2018.