Page 9 - AsianOil Week 16 2022

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Maersk secures Ichthys extension,

announces rig sale

PROJECTS & MAERSK Drilling announced on April 19 that it “We’re delighted to confirm that Maersk
COMPANIES had secured a one-year contract extension for its Deliverer and its dedicated crew will continue to
Maersk Deliverer rig at the Ichthys field offshore support Inpex and create value for the Western
Western Australia. Australia community into 2024,” stated Maersk’s
The announcement comes after Japan’s Inpex, chief operating officer, Morten Kelstrup. “The
the operator of Ichthys, exercised an option to campaign at the Ichthys field has reached several
extend the provisioning of the ultra-deepwater key milestones, including that Mærsk Deliverer
rig for drilling services at the field. The exten- was the first ever rig to use managed pressure
The Maersk Deliverer sion will be a direct continuation of the rig’s cur- drilling in Australian waters.”
is a DSS-21 column- rent three-year contract, worth $300mn, and is In a separate announcement the follow-
stabilised dynamically expected to start in July 2023. One further one- ing day, Maersk said it had agreed to sell
positioned semi- year option remains on the contract according the benign environment Maersk Convincer
submersible drilling rig. to the statement. jack-up rig to ADES for $42.5mn in cash. The
The Maersk Deliverer is a DSS-21 col- Maersk Convincer – a Baker Pacific Class 375
umn-stabilised dynamically positioned cantilever jack-up rig – has been operating off-
semi-submersible drilling rig that is able to oper- shore Brunei since 2017 under contract with
ate in water depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,048 Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), which is a joint
metres). Maersk noted that a crew consisting venture between Shell and the government of
of more than 80% Australian nationals was Brunei.
employed on the rig, exceeding the contractual According to the announcement, BSP has
requirement of 40% and in line with the com- agreed to release the rig from its contract upon
pany’s policy of using local suppliers wherever completion of its current drilling programme in
possible. August 2022, or September at the latest.™

SOUTH ASIA

India’s Cairn to embark on shale exploration

PROJECTS & INDIA’S Cairn Oil and Gas has announced that whether the prospects are commercially viable.
COMPANIES it intends to begin a shale drilling programme in Shale reserves in the region are estimated to
June this year in Rajasthan. The Vedanta-owned be 3-4bn barrels, with around 300-400 barrels of
company produces about 159,000 barrels of oil hydrocarbons recoverable, Cairn’s deputy CEO,
equivalent per day (boepd) and believes that Prachur Sah, told Indian media this week.
shale exploration could boost this significantly, Sah said Cairn would be spending around
thus eventually reducing India’s reliance on $700mn on exploration during the 2023 fiscal
hydrocarbon imports by 10%. year, adding that the advantage of exploring
Cairn has hired US-based oilfield service for shale in Rajasthan means that the company
firms Schlumberger and Baker Hughes to assess would not have to build new infrastructure. He
its onshore shale assets in the Mangala, Bhagyam said new wells could be easily tied in with exist-
and Aishwariya (MBA) fields. This is where the ing infrastructure. He also said that Cairn hoped
company is planning to invest a large portion of to experience the success that the US had with
the $4-5bn worth of capital expenditure that it developing its shale oil and gas resources. Such
will make over the next three years. During this a result – however unlikely given the US’ unique
time, it hopes to increase output to up to 450,000 advantages when it comes to shale – would prove
boepd. This capex plan involves expanded a boon to India, which imports up to 85% of its
exploratory drilling at Cairn’s offshore assets as hydrocarbon requirements.
well. India’s total crude oil imports averaged
The MBA fields produce up to 20% of India’s 4.26mn barrels per day (bpd) during the 2020-
total oil output, but Cairn intends to introduce 21 financial year, which ended on March 31. Of
an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) programme to that, the amount imported from OPEC coun-
boost production, as well as start shale explo- tries in the Middle East and Africa made up
ration. Once initiated, it is expected to take 71.6%, while imports from Russia accounted for
3-4 months to carry out drilling and evaluate less than 1%.™

Week 16 22•April•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9