DRILLING & COMPLETION NEWS • DEPARTMENTS
Valaris adds new drillships to its fleet, citing positive outlook for ultra-deepwater floaters
Valaris took delivery of newbuild drillships VALARIS DS-13 and
DS-14 in December for an aggregate purchase price of approxi-
mately $337 million. These deliveries increase Valaris' drillship
fleet to 13. The two rigs will be mobilized from the South Korean
shipyard to Las Palmas, Spain, where they will be stacked until
contracted for work.
"Following the successful contracting of six of our stacked drill-
ships since mid-2021, the purchase of VALARIS DS-13 and DS-14
increases our operating leverage to the attractive ultra-deepwater
floater market," said Anton Dibowitz, Valaris President and CEO.
"Based on our positive market outlook, growing future demand
and strong customer interest in these rigs, we believe that the pur-
chase of these high-specification drillships at compelling prices
will generate attractive returns.”
Seadrill rigs score Petrobras contracts
Petrobras has awarded 1,064-day fixed-term contracts to
Seadrill's West Auriga and West Polaris drillships . The con-
tracts are expected to commence in Q4 2024 and represent a
total contract value of approximately $1.1 billion, inclusive of
additional services and mobilization fees. The drillships will
transition to Seadrill from the existing third-party managers
before undertaking the campaigns with Petrobras.
Diamond's Ocean BlackRhino drillship
awarded new contract in Guinea-Bissau
The Hercules harsh-environment semi was recently mobi-
lized to Namibia to drill two wells there for Galp. The ﬁ rst well
conﬁ rmed a light oil discovery in January.
Galp confirms 'significant' oil discovery
with new exploration well in Namibia
Galp and its partners NAMCOR and Custos have drilled and
logged the first exploration well, Mopane-1X, in block PEL83 off-
shore Namibia. The well confirms the discovery of a significant
column of light oil in reservoir-bearing sands of high quality.
In the coming weeks, Galp will continue to analyze the acquired
data and anticipates performing a drill stem test to assess the
commerciality of this discovery. In the meantime, drilling opera-
tions at Mopane-1X will proceed to explore deeper targets. Upon
completion, the Hercules semisubmersible, managed by Odfjell
Drilling, will be relocated to the Mopane-2X location to further
evaluate the extent of the Mopane discovery.
Payara development begins production
In mid-November, Hess Corp announced the startup of produc-
tion from the Payara development on the Stabroek Block offshore
Guyana . The Prosperity floating production, storage and offload-
ing (FPSO) vessel is expected to reach its initial production of
220,000 gross barrels of oil per day (BOPD) over the first half of
2024 as new wells are brought online. Production capacity on the
Stabroek Block is now approximately 620,000 gross BOPD.
In total, six FPSOs with a gross production capacity of more
than 1.2 million BOPD are expected to be online on the Stabroek
Block by the end of 2027 .
Diamond Offshore Drilling entered into a drilling contract
with an independent operator to utilize the Ocean BlackRhino
for work offshore Guinea-Bissau. The Ocean BlackRhino was
awarded a one-well contract with a minimum duration of 30
days, representing $15.4 million of additional backlog, exclud-
ing mobilization. Work under the new contract is expected to
commence in July 2024 in direct continuation of the rig's cur-
rent contract with Woodside in Senegal.
Evaluation continues on Suriname Block
52 after new oil discovery by Petronas
PETRONAS has made an oil discovery at the Roystonea-1
exploration well in Suriname’s Block 52. The well, located
about 185 km offshore in a water depth of 904 m, was drilled to
a total depth of 5,315 m. It also encountered several oil-bearing
Campanian sandstone reservoir packages. Further evaluation
is being undertaken to determine the full extent of this discov-
ery and its potential development synergy with the Sloanea-1
discovery, which was made in 2020 within the same block.
Sparta deepwater development in US Gulf
advances as Shell and Equinor take FID
Shell and Equinor have reached final investment decision
(FID) for the Sparta deepwater development in the US Gulf of
Mexico . Production is expected to begin in 2028 , with expected
ultimate recoverable resources currently estimated at above
250 million bbl.
The development plan includes eight production wells
tied back to a semisubmersible floating production unit. The
Sparta platform is a replication of Shell 's Vito and Whale proj-
ects, enabling a standardized design approach.
D R I LLI N G CO N T R ACTO R • JAN UARY/FEB RUARY 2024
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