Norway-based Odfjell's newbuild deepwater semisubmersible Deepsea Aberdeen has started drilling operations under a seven-year contract with BP on the Quad 204 field development project West of Shetland, UK.
Deepsea Aberdeen (pictured) is the latest addition to Odfjell Drilling’s fleet of ultra deepwater and harsh environment mobile offshore drilling units. The rig was delivered from the DSME yard in South Korea in November 2014.
The unit is an enhanced GVA7500 harsh environment design, able to work in up to 3000m water depth, and is a sister rig to the Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Stavanger, both previously delivered from DSME.
It is equipped with a full conventional mooring spread for operations in water depths of 70-500m. The 7500-tonne loading capacity in all operating conditions ensures efficiency, with a reduced need for supply. Additionally, full winterization may be provided for improved working conditions in an arctic environment.
Odfjell says the start of drilling operations of Deepsea Aberdeen marks another step in the development of the firm's activities in the UK and harsh environment offshore regions.
Quad 204
Located West of Shetland in the UK, Quad 204 is a project to construct a new floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit to replace the existing Schiehallion FPSO. The Schiehallion redevelopment project will also include an extension of the existing subsea system with 15 new and replacement flow lines and 21 new and replacement risers. There will also be an additional 14 new wells, adding to the 52 existing wells.
Quad 204 has been in operation since 1998, but recent appraisals showed that the field holds more reserves than originally anticipated. Once completed, the FPSO is expected to produce 130,000/d of oil and 220 MMscf/d of gas compression.
The FPSO and its subsea structures will be installed in modules and are due to be producing by 2017, according to BP.
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