Drilling / Completions

Senegal approves Cairn Energy’s offshore exploration drilling plans

August 18, 2015 | Drilling / Completions, Senegal

London, UK | – The government of Senegal has given Cairn Energy permission to proceed with a multi-well exploration and appraisal program for two discoveries, according to a news release. Cairn plans to begin a 3-D seismic acquisition program in third-quarter 2015, and core and test three appraisal and exploration wells starting in fourth-quarter 2015. The company estimates the two discoveries made in 2014 have a gross mean risked resource base of more than 1 billion barrels, the release said. The FAN-1 well, located in 1,427 m water …

Saipem wins contract for Aje field offshore Nigeria

June 09, 2015 | Drilling / Completions, Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria | –  Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem has won a contract for its Scarabeo 3 semi-submersible rig to work on Nigeria’s Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum’s Aje shallow-water oilfield offshore Nigeria. The rig will drill one new well and complete another, which will then be tied in to a floating production, storage and offloading unit. Aje field straddles water depths from 100 to 1,000 metres located in the Dahomey basin, nearly 24 kilometres offshore. First production from the field is scheduled to begin at the …

CAMAC Energy concludes Oyo-8 completion operations offshore Nigeria

April 02, 2015 | Drilling / Completions, Nigeria

Houston, U.S | – CAMAC Energy  has announced  it has finished completion operations on the Oyo-8 well, located offshore Nigeria, and is now ready to commence oil production. Oyo-8 is hooked up to the FPSO Armada Perdana owned by Bumi Armada Berhad (“Bumi”). However, CAMAC has been informed by Bumi that the FPSO is not ready to receive oil production from the well due to class certification inspections of the vessel’s mooring lines being conducted by the American Bureau of Shipping (“ABS”). Bumi estimates these inspections …

Halliburton releases two new completion tools

February 12, 2015 | Drilling / Completions, Products, Services & Techniques

Houston, U.S. | – Halliburton Completion Tools has released two new products: the EquiFlow Autonomous Inflow Control Device (AICD) and the VersaFlex XtremeGrip Expandable Liner Hanger System. According to Halliburton, the EquiFlow AICD allows for the most efficient recovery of oil in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) producers. The tool—which works without any moving parts and has no electronics or elastomers—provides the highest level of reliability for the life of a well. The EquiFlow AICD has been flow tested with steam, varying oils, and water. It …

Namibia expects explorers to drill up to five wells in 2016

November 11, 2014 | Drilling / Completions, Licensing & Concessions

Windhoek, Namibia | –  Namibia sees as many as five oil exploration wells being drilled in 2016 as companies searching for deposits off the southwest African coast are undeterred by 19 dry wells. Tullow Oil Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which has two exploration blocks in the Orange River basin, will probably sink wells in 2016, Namibia’s Petroleum Commissioner Immanuel Mulunga said. Murphy Oil Corp. may drill toward the end of 2015 or early 2016, he said. The basin is off the country’s southern …

Shell plans eight new deepwater oil wells in Nigeria’s Bonga field

November 05, 2014 | Drilling / Completions, Nigeria

Port Harcourt, Nigeria | – Anglo-Dutch Shell’s deep-water subsidiary in Nigeria, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) on Wednesday unveiled plans to drill eight more wells in the Bonga deepwater oilfield to help maximise deep-water production off the coast of Nigeria. The drilling plan is another major boost to the Nigeria oil and gas industry. This achievement is coming barely two months after the oil giant started oil production from the first well at the Bonga North West deep-water development off the Nigerian …

Total halts South Africa offshore drilling after mechanical failure

November 05, 2014 | Drilling / Completions, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa | – French multinational energy major Total SA has halted oil exploration off the southern coast of Africa due to mechanical problems with a rig, meaning it will not be able to resume searching in the area before 2016, a company official said on Tuesday. The news is a huge setback to South Africa’s plans to have 30 exploration wells drilled in the next 10 years as the continent’s most advanced economy strives to reduce its heavy reliance on imported oil. …

Norway’s Statoil hit by dry wells off Angola, US Gulf

September 04, 2014 | Angola, Drilling / Completions

Oslo, Norway | – Norwegian multinational oil and gas exploration and production company Statoil has drilled dry wells in two areas in which it had high expectations, off Angola and in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, hitting its shares and raising questions over whether its successful exploration run is coming to an end. Statoil was the most successful offshore explorer last year, discovering more oil and gas resources than any other oil company in the world. It has great hopes for drilling in the pre-salt …