Well Operations News

Helix Energy Solutions Group, a U.S. offshore oil, and gas well services company, has signed a multi-year deal with Shell to provide Well Intervention services in the Gulf of Mexico.Under the contract Helix will provide either the Q4000 or Q5000 riser-based semi-submersible well intervention vessel, a 10k or 15k Intervention Riser System (IRS), remotely operated vehicles, project management, and engineering services to cover operations from fully integrated well intervention to fully integrated plug and abandonment well services…

U.S.-based Helix Energy Solutions Group has secured an extension of its well intervention charter and services contracts with Brazil's Petrobras for the Siem Helix 2 well intervention vessel."The initial four-year contract for the Siem Helix 2 has been extended by one year at a reduced rate reflective of the current market. The Siem Helix 2 is now set to remain under contract with Petrobras until mid-December 2022 performing riser-based well intervention activities," Helix Energy Solutions said. The company did not provide details on the value of the contract.The Siem Helix 2 is a 2016-built well intervention vessel capable of performing a wide range of subsea services including production enhancement…

Oilfield services giant TechnipFMC plans to acquire the remaining 49% of shares in TIOS AS from Island Offshore.TIOS is an offshore well intervention joint venture formed in 2018 between TechnipFMC and Norwegian offshore vessel owner Island Offshore.TechnipFMC said Thursday the move would speed up the development of TechnipFMC’s integrated service model "focused on maximizing value to our clients."TIOS provides fully integrated Riserless Light Well Intervention (RLWI) services…

Indonesian oil & gas exploration and production company Conrad Petroleum has flowed dry gas from its Tambak-1 well located in the Duyung PSC in the West Natuna Basin, offshore Indonesia.The Tambak-1 well was designed to both appraise the Mako gas field and test the underlying Tambak exploration prospect. Coro Energy plc holds a 15% interest in this project.The drill stem test (DST) flowed dry gas from the intra-Muda sands at a rate of 11.4 MMcf/day on a 181/64-inch (2.8 inches) choke, maintaining a wellhead tubing pressure of 225psi. The DST of the Tambak-1 well was completed with cased hole perforations along with a 6-foot interval.The DST demonstrates that this completion method is viable…

Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company Saudi Aramco said that using renewable energy at unconventional well sites in Wa’ad Al-Shamal provides multiple benefits to the company."Not only is it a reliable and less expensive way to power the remote wells, but it also reduces carbon emissions and helps to save hydrocarbons for export by providing natural gas for the region’s power generation," Saudi Arabian Oil Company said.A new collaboration between the Power Systems Renewables Department (PRSD) and Unconventional Resources (UR) is not only saving costs while creating value, but is also reducing Saudi Aramco’s environmental…

TGS and Quantico Energy Solutions announced a technology collaboration to leverage their respective offerings in seismic data, AI-based well logs, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based seismic inversion.TGS is a provider of multi-client geoscience and engineering data for exploration & production (E&P) companies. Quantico is a AI company focused on subsurface solutions for E&P companies.The joint solution addresses the critical challenges in earth modeling workflows; specifically, insufficient seismic and log data, lengthy time until results, and difficulties mapping advanced geomechanical and petrophysical attributes.TGS will leverage its industry leading data library of seismic and well log data in the key regions of oil and gas activity across the world.

UK based Independent Oil & Gas (IOG) has confirmed that the Maersk Resilient rig spudded the Harvey appraisal well on 6 August 2019.The North Sea firm said in a press release that as previously indicated, completion of the well is expected to take approximately two months in the success case.According to the development and production company focused on becoming a substantial UK gas producer, Harvey is centrally located within IOG’s asset portfolio in UK Southern North Sea Blocks 48/23c, 48/24a, and 48/24b, close to the Thames Pipeline export route.The primary objective of the well is to confirm gas volumes which management estimate at 85/129/199 BCF Prospective Resources in the Low/Best/High case…

As many as six high impact wells are yet to be completed this year around Africa, after several consecutive low-activity years with only a few positive results.According to the energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy, these wells all target offshore acreages, with the majority planned in the Western African region.“Africa appears to be emerging from a long hibernation in terms of oil and gas exploration activities,” said Rystad Energy Upstream Research analyst Taiyab Zain Shariff.A steep drop in the number of exploration wells in 2015 fueled by budget cuts, failed projects, and poor market conditions has meant that exploration in the region has mostly been on pause and declining further until this year…

Weir Oil & Gas, a upstream provider of pressure pumping and pressure control equipment and services, today announced an updated, field-proven Unitized Lock-Ring (ULR) wellhead.The ULR wellhead features a standardized design for shale plays in the U.S. that accommodates 95 percent of casing configurations in either 11 inch or 13-5/8 inch nominal sizes, ensuring faster delivery and greater flexibility for operators.Weir’s newly designed wellhead features a ULR casing head housing that has been standardized to accommodate various casing sizes, eliminating the need to switch the housing and tools for differing wellsite requirements.The Weir Quick Connect (WQC) features API gasket sealing capabilities and facilitates BOP make-up in drilling operations…

The horizontal re-frac market within the US onshore scene has boomed in the recent years, with the number of horizontal re-frac jobs increasing every year over the last 10 years, said a report.According to Rystad Energy, the energy research and business intelligence company, in 2009, fewer than 10 wells were re-fracked, but in 2018 that number ballooned to more than 550 wells.New 2018 data is still preliminary amid some reporting delays for frac jobs in the fourth quarter of 2018. However Rystad Energy’s initial analysis reveals some interesting insights regarding the state of re-fracking.One key takeaway is that, despite an increase in the number of re-fracked wells…

With the global offshore decommissioning industry expected to reach $36bn over the next 3 years, several hundred offshore oil and gas wells could cease production by 2021 in the face of today’s bearish oil market.As a consequence, so-called decommissioning obligations in the global oil and gas industry rose to $11.7 billion last year and are projected to hold steady at an average of about $12 billion per year from 2019 through 2021, according to Rystad Energy.“2018 was an all-time high, and the next years are set to break this record,” said Rystad Energy partner Audun Martinsen. “To put this into context, the global oil and gas industry…

London-based offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has bought a second newbuild Gusto MSC CJ46 design jack-up rig from the Singapore shipyard PaxOcean Group for $83.75 million. Like the Noble Johnny Whitstine, which the UK offshore driller purchased in September 2018 in connection with a Saudi Aramco contract, the newbuild CJ46 design jackup, to be named the Noble Joe Knight, was built at the PaxOcean Graha shipyard in Batam, Indonesia.The rig is built for operations in moderate drilling environments and is capable of operating in water depths of up to 375 feet, with well depths of 30,000 feet. Enhanced drilling capabilities are supported by a modern drilling control system…

UK-based oil and gas company President Energy President Energy has encountered oil in the third and final well of its current drill programme at the Puesto Flores concession in Argentina.Well PF0 1005 has been drilled, logged, cased and cemented to 2,360 metres both on time and on budget, the company focusing primarily on high margin production opportunities in Latin America said.Both the Punta Rosada primary target and the Lotena formation secondary target resulted in good oil shows while drilling and are shown by electronic logs to be encouraging with 18 metres of net oil pay determined to be tested having good oil saturation and porosity.

Australian energy company Senex Energy has successfully tested a gas exploration well in the Cooper Basin in South Australia.According to the Brisbane-based company The Gemba-1 well flowed 227,000 cubic metres (8 mcf) of gas per day over a period of a week."Senex Energy has successfully completed the initial flow test of the Gemba-1 gas exploration well in the Cooper Basin, with stabilised flow rates of approximately eight million standard cubic feet per day, plus associated liquids," said a stock exchange annoucement.Senex Managing Director and CEO Ian Davies said: “Senex is delivering on its strategy to become a material supplier of gas to the east coast market, and this Cooper Basin gas discovery adds another potential supply source from our growing portfolio.

UK-based Tower Resources has announced it has contracted US offshore driller Vantage Drilling International to provide drilling operations at the NJOM-3 well offshore Cameroon. The well is located in Tower’s 100%-owned Thali licence.The Topaz Driller is a Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 jack-up, which was recently mobilised to Cameroon by NewAge as operator for the Etinde license for two appraisal wells and is currently employed in Gabon, informed a press release from the upstream oil and gas company.As announced on 1 November 2018, the terms of the contract are confidential, however, the economics are consistent with Tower’s current drilling cost estimates…

UK-based independent full-cycle oil and gas company confirmed that Indico-1 well in Colombia reached target depth of 10,604 feet and encountered the Lower Sands of the Une formation.The South America focused oil and gas producer, which owns 30% non-operated working interest in the Indico-1 well, said the Lower Sands package is the same formation which holds the 120 feet oil column discovered at nearby Mariposa, which lies some 6.5 kilometres to the North West of Indico-1.The Mariposa well has produced at a stable rate of approximately 3,200 barrels of oil per day in natural flow from 10 feet of perforations near the top of the 120 feet oil column for over a year…

Italian energy giant Eni announced that Indonesia has approved its investment plan for the Merakes project, located in the Kutei Basin, offshore East Kalimantan.Eni will now start work on developing the project, which will involve drilling and constructing subsea wells in water depths of 1,500 metres. These will be connected to the Jangkrik floating production unit 35 km northeast of the site.he gas production will be shipped to the Bontang LNG plant using also all the other existing facilities of Jangkrik field as well as the East Kalimantan transportation network. This new production will contribute also to the life extension of the…

Saudi Aramco has awarded major stimulation and well-testing contract to Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE). BHGE will deliver a comprehensive well services solution including all cased-hole wireline logging, perforation, well testing, stimulation, fracturing and associated intervention services.By integrating discrete products, services and capabilities into a single offering, BHGE will help Saudi Aramco reduce time, costs and complexity while increasing efficiency.The three-year contract includes the option of two one-year extensions and the project is expected to commence in December 2018.The work is expected to create more than 200 new engineering…