Greek oil and gas firm Energean has signed a contract with Stena Drilling for the development drilling of the Karish field, offshore Israel.
Stena Drilling will deploy the Stena Forth drillship “or such substitute as may be agreed by the parties” to drill three development wells in Q1 2019, subject to Energean’s Final Investment Decision (FID) regarding the Karish and Tanin gas fields.
The Stena Forth, one of the DrillMAX Fleet vessels, is a DP Class 3 ultra-deepwater drillship, currently laid up in Las Palmas, with two other Stena drillships, Stena Drillmax, and Stena Icemax.
The Karish development program includes the drilling of three development wells and production from a new Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, approximately 90km offshore. First gas is expected in 2021.
Energean said: “Energean considers this to be a significant step in the development of Karish and part of a development plan which targets supplying gas to the growing Israeli gas market. Stena Drilling’s caliber, experience, and safety record was crucial in making this decision, given Energean’s commitment to achieving the highest standards of HSE performance and the requirement to operate in line with or exceed the European Directive on Safety of Offshore Oil & Gas Operations, as implemented by the UK safety directive”
Energean did not provide the value of the drillship contract.