Offshore staff
LONDON – Drilling of the Scotia exploration well offshore the Falkland Islands has had to be suspended. A routine test on the semisubmersible Leiv Eirkisson’s BOP revealed an equipment malfunction. According to Scotia operator Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd (FOGL), the BOP has been brought to surface in order to replace the failed component.
The malfunction is connected to a component used without problems during drilling of the precedingLoligo well. Following problems encountered by a previous operator, FOGL had commissioned an independent examination of the BOP prior to start of drilling.
The rig will remain on a zero day rate while repairs are conducted, although other costs continue to be incurred. FOGL expects the repair to take about two weeks to complete, which means there will be a delay in reaching total depth in the Scotia well.
In other related activity, the company and its joint venture partners have entered two separate agreements with PGS to acquire and process 3D seismic data over their Falkland licenses.
The first survey will be over the northern area permits and will cover a minimum of 4,000 sq km (1,544 sq mi). PGS’ survey vesselM/V Ramform Sterlingshould start the program in late November 2012, and this will be operated by Noble Energy.
TheM/V Ramform Challenger will perform the second survey, operated by FOGL, covering 1,000 sq km (386 sq mi) on the southern area licenses. The survey is expected to start in 1Q 2013.
Following the commitment to these two surveys the Falkland Islands government has agreed in principle to extend Phase 2 of the northern area licenses by two years to Dec. 15, 2018, and the southern area licenses by one year to Dec. 3, 2016.
10/25/2012
