Following a recent letter of intent, North Atlantic Drilling Ltd has now been awarded a contract for for the semi-submersible rig West Phoenix with VNG Norge.
The contract award had been subject to VNG Norge submitting the plan for development and operation (PDO) for the Fenja field in the Norwegian Sea. It did so on Tuesday, December 19.
The drilling contract for the West Phoenix entails six firm wells on the Fenja development.
Also, the contract provides for three optional wells prior to the fixed term period and three optional wells after the fixed term period. The firm period is expected to start in early 2020. The backlog for the firm period of the contract is estimated to be approximately $80 million, NADL said.
The award is subject to government approval of the development plan which is expected in the first half of 2018.
The Fenja field is located at Haltenterassen in block 6406/12, about 120 km north of Kristiansund. The field contains recoverable resources of approximately 100 million barrels oil equivalents, mostly oil (11.0 million standard cubic meters of oil, 3.4 billion standard cubic meters of gas and 0.57 million tonnes of NGL).
The figures include the Pil reservoir, while the Bue reservoir represents a possible upside in the field development plan.