Offshore staff
LYSAKER, Norway – Development drilling has finished on Aker BP’s Valhall Flank West project in the southern Norwegian North Sea.
Over an 11-month period, the jackup Maersk Invincible set 12 conductors and drilled nine wells - including three multi-branch wells - and 22,000 m (72,178 ft) of reservoir. The well alliance of Aker BP, Maersk Drilling, and Halliburton managed the program.
According to Aker BP’s svp Drilling and Wells Tommy Sigmundstad: “Compared with a comparable campaign completed outside the alliance, we see an improvement of 88% in average rate of penetration and 186% improvement in connection times.”
Last winter, the rig set a record on the Norwegian shelf, Aker BP claimed, when it drilled 2,278 m (7,473 ft) in a 12¼-in. section in 24 hours, with a maximum drilling speed that day of 280 m (919 ft)/hr.
Valhall Flank West came onstream last December, two years after submission on the plan for development and operation to the Norwegian authorities. The development is a key component of Aker BP’s plan to produce a further 1 Bboe from the Valhall field over the next 40 years.
The Maersk Invincible will remain on the field through the summer to assist well stimulation work. Aker BP has been deploying a new single-trip multi-frac technology, said to deliver faster yields and therefore less costly stimulation, on Valhall Flank West.
Four wells are currently producing with the remainder set to start up through the rest of this year.
06/24/2020
