Jadestone Energy has filed plans for drilling operations expected to start this year at its Montara oil field offshore Australia.
The Montara field, which Jadestone bought in October 2018, lies approximately 690 kilometers east of Darwin in a water depth of approximately 80 meters
The Montara Development Project (MDP) includes developing the Montara, Swift, Skua, and Swallow fields and operating the developed facilities for commercial production of the oil reserves.
Jadestone has recently filed a plan for drilling activities for one development well (platform well H6 within Production Licence AC/L7) and contingencies for another development well as part of the MDP (subsea well Skua-12 within the Production license AC/L8), as well as the workovers of H3 and Skua-10 in Production Licence AC/L7 and AC/L8 respectively.
The drilling and workover activities are expected to start to commence during Q2 of 2020 and are likely to last for a period of approximately 150 days in total. Timings are subject to weather, drilling rig availability and operational efficiency.
Jadestone plans to use a jack-up drilling rig for the operation. The rig will be towed to the drilling sites by two or three support vessels.
The Skua-12 site is an undisturbed site approximately 20 km from the Montara WHP and the Skua-10 site is an existing well, while the H6 development well and H3 workover will be undertaken when the rig is positioned alongside the Montara WHP. The MODU will cantilever the drill floor over the WHP to allow positioning the MODU’s drill center over the H6 and H3 slots.
Jadestone's drilling plans are currently being assessed by the country's offshore oil and gas safety regulator NOPSEMA