ConocoPhillips to release Rowan Gorilla VI early

Sept. 8, 2016
ConocoPhillips has confirmed to Offshore that it plans to cut the Rowan Gorilla VI early, as it completed a large-scale P&A campaign quicker than initially planned.

Offshore staff

HOUSTON– ConocoPhillips has confirmed to Offshore that it plans to cut the Rowan Gorilla VI early, as it completed a large-scale P&A campaign quicker than initially planned.

The Letourneau Technologies Super Gorilla Class jackup has been working for the operator offshore Norway onEkofisk 2/4A at a rate of $362,000/d, according to Rowan Companies’ most recent fleet status report of July 1.  

“Rowan Gorilla VI will be completing the P&A campaign (23 wells) on Ekofisk 2/4 A during 2016. The rig has completed its job on Ekofisk ahead of planned schedule, and will be released from the contract when the wells are plugged,” the ConocoPhillips spokesperson said.

In May, ConocoPhillips Skandinavia announced thatRowan Gorilla VIstarted the permanent plugging of 23 wells in April. Ekofisk’s first producer, Well A-13, was P&A’d 42 years after it came onstream, after producing 82.2 MMboe. 

The company was awarded production license 018 (PL018) in August 1965, during the first licensing round on the Norwegian shelf. Four years later, theEkofisk field was discovered in block 2/4 as the first Norwegian commercial oil field. Ekofisk 2/4A later became the first production well on a fixed installation on the Norwegian continental shelf when it started operations in April 1974.

According to the company’s most recent fleet status report, following the termination ofRowan Gorilla VI,Rowan will have one jackup working off Norway and five working in the North Sea.

The 2002-buildRowan Gorilla VI has a leg length of 607 ft (185 m) and can work in a maximum water depth of 400 ft (121 m). It has a maximum drilling depth of 35,000 ft (10,668 m).

09/08/2016

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