Page 14 - AfrOil Week 42 2021

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Tatneft and NOC representatives on site at B-82-4 drilling site (Photo: NOC)
It then signed production-sharing agreements work did not make much headway, but Tatneft
(PSAs) for three more fields in the Ghadames representatives have said repeatedly that the
and Sirte basins in December 2006. Altogether, company was committed to remaining active
its acreage in Libya covers an area of about in Libya.
18,000 square km. According to local press reports, the Russian
After carrying out some exploration work operator made the decision to resume work after
at these sites, the company suspended its activ- multiple discussions with Libyan officials and a
ities in 2011, pending a resolution of the Libyan review of security conditions.
civil war. It attempted to return in 2014 so that it The latest meeting between the parties took
could collect seismic data from a 200-square km place in early October and was attended by Abu
area in Ghadames but soon departed because of Algasim Shingeer, a member of NOC’s board of
a deterioration in security conditions. directors, and Albert Saviolin, the CEO of Tat-
Subsequent attempts to resume exploration neft’s Libyan subsidiary. ™

Maersk Drilling to drill “world-record”

deepwater well at Angola’s Block 48

ANGOLA TOTALENERGIES E&P Angola, a subsidiary of well in the Venus section of the block.
TotalEnergies (France), has exercised its option Ondjaba-1 will be the deepest offshore
to use the Maersk Voyager, a seventh-generation drilling site ever targeted, the Danish company
drillship owned by Maersk Drilling (Denmark), said in its statement. It noted that the current
to sink the ultra-deepwater Ondjaba-1 explora- world record was held Raya-1, a well that a
tion well at Angola’s Block 48. sister drillship, the Maersk Venturer, drilled in
Maersk Drilling announced in a statement 3,400-metre-deep water offshore Uruguay for
dated October 15 that the French major had TotalEnergies in 2016.
extended its contract for the Maersk Voyager “We’re thrilled to be able to confirm that we
by 54 days. The contract is now due to expire in indeed will be drilling for a new world record
February 2022 and has just one remaining one- [water depth],” Maersk Drilling chief operat-
well option, it said. ing officer Morten Kelstrup said. “Ondjaba-1
The company further noted that TotalEner- was part of Maersk Voyager’s original contract
gies E&P Angola was using the drillship to sink in Angola, but the rig’s drilling programme has
Ondjaba-1 in 3,628-metre-deep water. The new undergone several changes due to the unprece-
well has already been spudded, it reported, with- dented circumstances the world has faced since
out elaborating. early 2020. With this contract option called,
Once the Ondjaba-1 well is completed, the we’re now looking forward to proving that
Maersk Voyager will be moved to Block 2913B, Maersk Drilling and the highly capable Voyager
located offshore Namibia in the Orange basin. crew can once again break existing boundaries
TotalEnergies is planning to drill an exploration in close collaboration with TotalEnergies.” ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 20•October•2021