Statoil Weighs Rigs for Vigdis Work
Tuesday 7 March 2017
A pair of rigs are competing for work tendered by Statoil to plug and abandon a well at the Vigdis field off Norway, one of only a few jobs on offer amid a drilling market drought.
The state-controlled operator has applied to the country’s Environmental Agency for discharge of old drilling fluids in connection with the plugging operation on the 34/7-B-1 AH sidetrack well at the North Sea field, due to be carried out in May.
Statoil stated in its application it has yet to decide on which rig to carry out the work, with two units under consideration that both have a relevant track record in handling potential toxic gas such as hydrogen sulphide that can be emitted from the fluids.
While the fluids will be transported to land, Statoil is seeking permission to discharge to sea up to 100 tonnes of fluid volumes that may have a high level of gas content, though it said there is a low risk of this occurring.
Statoil did not identify which rigs are in the mix. The well was originally drilled in 1997 by Saipem semi-submersible Scarabeo 5, which is presently under contract with Statoil until August 2017 at a reported high dayrate of $494,000, though its charter was earlier suspended.
A Statoil spokesman cited by Norwegian news site SyslaOffshore.no, which first disclosed the rig bidding contest, said the names of the rigs could not be disclosed due to commercial concerns.
Although it is only a short-term rig job, there is likely to be keen price competition among contractors that are keen to keep their units operating, even at the expense of low dayrates that have fallen to levels of around $150,000 as lower oil prices have hit demand.
Currently, there are 15 floating rigs - half of the total Norway-compliant fleet of 30 - laid up off the country.