Skua sidetrack to boost oil recovery from Montara field offshore Australia
March 31, 2025
The Valaris 247 jackup has reached the Jadestone Energy-operated Montara oil field offshore northwest Australia, and it is preparing to spud the Skua-11 sidetrack well (Skua-11ST).
Jadestone is the 100% owner and operator of the producing Montara project, which is located in PL AC/L7 and PL AC/L8 in the Timor Sea in a water depth of 77 m.
Courtesy Valaris
Valaris 247 jackup rig
The Valaris 247 jackup has reached the Jadestone Energy-operated Montara oil field offshore northwest Australia, and it is preparing to spud the Skua-11 sidetrack well (Skua-11ST).
Initially, the rig will decommission the existing SK-11 well before drilling the side-track higher up in the Skua structure to speed up reserves recovery and extend the economic life of the Montara field by a year.
Jadestone expects this program to take about 60 days to complete, and it is targeting a rate of 3,500 bbl/d once Skua-11ST comes onstream. The estimated cost is $62 million.
In a Dec. 5 update, the company said work to optimize production and uptime at the nearby Montara Venture FPSO has delivered positive results.
