Offshore drilling contractor Transocean has awarded a rig services contract to InteliWell – a joint venture (JV) between Nekkar’s subsidiary Intellilift, Transocean, and Viasat’s subsidiary RigNet – to equip one of its semi-submersible rigs with a drilling automation solution to boost drilling performance and safety.
Thanks to this deal, InteliWell JV, formed to accelerate autonomous well construction, has secured its first rig services contract for its InteliWell software, which it describes as a “game-changing” drilling automation solution.
As InteliWell’s mission is to decrease drilling times through rig automation and streamlining of the well construction process using new processes and tools driven by artificial intelligence, it offers a suite of applications that provide an end-to-end, closed-loop workflow for well-construction planning, execution, and monitoring.
Transocean awarded the deal on behalf of its customers, Wintershall Dea and OMV, to fit and utilise the InteliWell software on the Transocean Norge semi-submersible rig, which was hired by these two players for a 17-well contract in September 2022.
Based on the offshore drilling contractor’s fleet status report from April, four one-well options were recently exercised in Norway for this rig at $338,000 per day, $358,000 per day, $358,000 per day, and $408,000 per day, respectively.
Stig Trydal , Board Member of InteliWell, and Managing Director of Intellilift, commented: “InteliWell will enable more efficient and consistent execution of drilling operations, which will result in reduced drilling time and costs for both the operators, Wintershall Dea and OMV, and Transocean. Additionally, the use of InteliWell will improve safety by reducing the need for manual work and personnel exposure in red zones on the rig floor.”
The 2019-built Transocean Norge sixth-generation Moss Maritime CS60 semi-submersible rig was constructed at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. This rig can accommodate 150 people and its maximum drilling depth is 40,000 ft.