As is tradition, the first week of January is generally quiet in the offshore market. However, Esgian reports that there were still some noteworthy updates related to new contracts, drilling activities, and rig moves.
Contracts
After a bidding process for rigs to work at the Buzios field offshore Brazil, Valaris has been awarded a 1,064-day contract for its drillship Valaris DS-4 with Petrobras. This contract, set to begin around December 2024, holds an estimated value of approximately $519 million, encompassing additional services and mobilisation fees.
Noble Corporation and Petronas Suriname have agreed to a rig swap for an extended scope offshore Suriname. The 12,000-ft drillship Noble Voyager is set to drill one well in Block 52, taking over the contract option previously assigned to the 10,000-ft semisub Noble Discoverer. The contract extension is slated to begin in February 2024, with an estimated duration of 120 days at a clean day rate of $470,000.
Drilling Activity and Discoveries
Galp stated that Mopane-1X, its first exploration well on PEL 83 offshore Namibia, indicates preliminary signs of hydrocarbon presence.
Harbour Energy has started drilling at the Gayo-1 exploration well in the Andaman II block, offshore Indonesia.
Talos Energy has started oil and natural gas production at its Lime Rock and Venice discoveries in the US Gulf of Mexico.
Murphy Oil Corporation has concluded drilling the Oso #1 exploration well on Atwater Valley Block 138 in the US GOM. Non-commercial hydrocarbons were present and the well will be plugged and abandoned.
Demand
ONGC emerges as a major winner in India's eighth Open Acreage and Licensing Policy (OALP) bidding round, securing seven of the ten awarded oil and gas fields. ONGC was awarded 6 offshore blocks - 3 shallow water, 1 deepwater, and 2 ultra-deepwater blocks - along with 1 onshore block.
Mobilisation/Rig Moves
Valaris 400-ft jackup Valaris 107 has left the Kupe field offshore New Zealand after drilling the Kupe South 9 gas development well. It is understood that the rig will now be moving to Australian waters, where it has several contracts lined up.
Transocean's 1,640-ft Cat D semisub Transocean Endurance has arrived in Australia, after a trip from Singapore. The rig, which left the Norwegian market in October 2023, is currently located near Dampier, W. Australia, and is expected to start a P&A contract with Woodside within days.
Noble’s CJ70 jackup Noble Integrator is heading to a North Sea well location after leaving Stavanger anchorage where it had been warm stacked since September 2023. The rig was hired by Harbour Energy in August 2023 for a one-well contract in Norway with a duration of 35 days and a day rate of $205,000.
Other News
The Council of Ministers in the Republic of Congo has approved the award of the PNGF Bis licence to a contractor group led by Perenco as an operator.
PetroNor E&P has completed the farmout of its interest in blocks offshore Guinea Bissau to Apus Energy, with Apus Energy paying $23 million to PetroNor towards past licence costs and long lead items ahead of the drilling of the Atum-1 prospect in 2024.
The Norwegian Ministry of Energy has approved PGNiG Upstream Norway as operator and partner with Horisont Energi in Polaris (CO2 exploration licence EXL003), a CO2 storage licence located in the Barents Sea off Norway.
Malaysian oil firm Petronas, via its subsidiary PC Ketapang II Ltd. (PCK2L), has secured a 20-year extension of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the Ketapang Working Area, located in the Java Sea, in Indonesia, and originally set to expire in 2028.