Baker Hughes and Schlumberger are to be awarded contracts for integrated drilling and well services on Statoil's two new Cat J jackup rigs, Askepott (translated as Cinderella) and Askeladden (a character from Norwegian folklore).
The rigs are due to carry out work at the Oseberg and Gullfaks fields in the Norwegian North Sea.
Initially awarded for four years, the contracts include options for two, two-year extensions. The contracts include:
Schlumberger is currently delivering integrated drilling and well services at the UK North Sea Mariner field for Statoil and Baker Hughes at Statoil's mega-development Johan Sverdrup, in the Norwegian sector.
Oseberg Cat J will contribute to continued development of the Oseberg area. From Autumn 2017, the rig will drill wells for the Vestflanken 2 (West Flank II) project. Later the rig may be used for further developing the area in the Oseberg Future Development, phases 2 and 3.
The past four years the Gullfaks field has seen substantial investments and upgrading. In 2016 consent to extended field life to 2034 was granted, almost 30 years beyond the original plan for development and operation estimate, which was 2005. The Cat J rig will be essential to the continued development of the Gullfaks field.
Owned by the Gullfaks and Oseberg licenses, the Cat J jackup rigs were tailored to the conditions in the North Sea, where they are scheduled to be installed in the summer and autumn of 2017, respectively.
The Cat J rigs are specially designed to perform efficient drilling operations on subsea development solutions in addition to conventional surface drilling from fixed platforms.
The rigs have a derrick allowing 40m pipe joints to be put together to increase the efficiency of the operations. They feature automatic pipe handling and the opportunity to perform parallel operations – i.e. making up pipe while drilling.
Statoil says: "They will be instrumental in ensuring that the licenses recover all profitable reserves, and may also be used for exploration."
The introductory Askeladden drilling program focuses on proven reserves and gas blowdown wells on one of the Gullfaks satellite fields. Askepott will primarily drill through the new unmanned wellhead platform at Vestflanken 2, part of Oseberg.