Page 17 - EurOil Week 33

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Maersk secures additional Aker BP contract

NORWAY MAESRK Drilling announced on August 20 that terms but add the possibility of an upside for all
it had secured an additional one-well contract parties, based on delivery and performance dur-
from Aker BP for the Maersk Integrator jack-up ing execution.
rig. The contract marks a direct continuation of “Our alliance with Aker BP and Halliburton is
previously arranged work that the rig was carry- enabling new ways of working as one team across
ing out for Aker BP. the value chain, and our close collaboration also
Under the new contract, the Maersk Inte- allows greater flexibility in future well planning,
grator, which is currently being upgraded to a so additional wells can be committed to as plans
The Maersk Integrator hybrid, low-emission rig and is suited to working mature,” commented Maersk’s chief operating
is currently being in harsh environments year-round, will move to officer, Morten Kelstrup. “We have achieved
upgraded to a hybrid, the Ula field offshore Norway to drill Ula F-Pro- impressive efficiency gains in the alliance, and
low-emission rig. ducer 1 well. The contract will start in April this also translates into a reduction of the [carbon
2021 and is expected to have a duration of 85 dioxide] emissions associated with drilling. The
days. Maesrk said in a statement that its value is upgrades currently being performed on Maersk
roughly $21.6mn, excluding integrated services Integrator will improve our emissions profile
provided and a potential performance bonus. even further,” he said.
Maersk Integrator is contracted under the Once the upgrades have been made, the rig
terms of the frame agreement that Maersk and is anticipated to move to the Ivar Aasen field for
Aker BP entered into in 2017 as part of the Aker Aker BP later this month.
BP Jack-up Alliance. The alliance, which also Aker BP operates on the Norwegian Conti-
includes oilfield services firm Halliburton, uses nental Shelf (NCS). It is jointly owned by Aker
a shared incentive model. Contracts entered with a 40% stake, BP with 30% and other share-
into under the alliance are based on market-rate holders with the remaining 30%.™

Rathlin, Union Jack plan new conventional

onshore wells in England

UK RATHLIN Energy and partner Union Jack productive capability and any future drilling
Oil are planning the next phase of the onshore operations”.
West Newton conventional project in Yorkshire, The West Newton project is located in Petro-
northern England. leum Exploration and Development Licence
The companies said this week that Rathlin (PEDL) 183. Union Jack holds a 16.665% inter-
had submitted screening requests to the East est in the licence. Rathlin hopes that the West
Riding of Yorkshire Council for two new poten- Newton field will have the potential to provide
tial well sites at the project, West Newton C and local feedstock to a local net zero emissions pro-
West Newton D. ject, replacing the need for imported hydrocar-
This is the first step of a planning process to bons with domestic resources and boosting the
further explore and appraise the West Newton regional economy.
field. The process will determine whether plan- The company said it would be undertak-
ning application submissions for the two wells ing public consultation on the proposed field
will require environmental impact assessments development over the coming months and
(EIS). ahead of the submission of any formal planning
This comes after construction work on the applications.
West Newton B-1 well was finalised last week, The conventional project is progressing
with drilling operations due to begin shortly. as the UK appears to have abandoned shale
The partners will drill to a depth of around 80 development. Cuadrilla Resources’ attempts at
metres before installing casing and erecting the unconventional drilling in the Bowland shale in
primary rig to drill down to a target depth of north-west England were frequently disrupted
roughly 2,000 metres. by local opposition, and subsequently stalled
According to the companies, the initial results when the UK government imposed a mora-
from West Newton B-1 will inform a subsequent torium on hydraulic fracturing in England in
programme of well testing, “which will establish November 2019.™

Week 33 20•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17