Wintershall awards rig contract for Maria development
STAVANGER, Norway -- Wintershall, Germany’s largest internationally active oil and gas producer, has awarded the rig contract for the Maria field development to Odfjell Drilling. The contract, for the Deepsea Stavanger semisubmersible, is worth approximately $175 million, based on 574 budgeted days.
Under the terms of the contract, the Deepsea Stavanger will drill six wells on Maria field starting in April 2017. In addition, the contract has options for additional wells. The award is the latest contract in the execution of the Maria development.
“In a difficult market environment, Wintershall is pushing ahead with our first operated development in Norway. Maria is a major subsea development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and this is only the second major rig contract signed in 2015. With the procurement of the Deepsea Stavanger we are demonstrating that we are still prepared to invest in this core region even in a difficult oil price environment,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall’s project director for the Maria development.
Wintershall will cooperate closely with Odfjell to drill and complete three production wells in each of Maria’s two subsea templates, located at a water depth of around 300 m on the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea.
Subsea tieback
Under the proposed development solution, Maria’s two templates will be linked, via a subsea tieback, to the Kristin, Heidrun and Åsgard B production platforms.
The Maria well stream will go to the Kristin platform for processing, while the supply of water for injection into the reservoir will come from the Heidrun platform and lift gas will be provided from Åsgard B, via the Tyrihans D field subsea template. Processed oil will be shipped to Åsgard field for storage and offloading to shuttle tankers. Gas will be exported via pipeline to the Åsgard Transport System to Kårstø.
Maria field is located about 20 km east of Kristin field and about 45 km south of Heidrun field in the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea. Wintershall Norge is the operator of the license with a 50% share. Petoro has a 30% share and Centrica Resources (Norge) owns the remaining 20%.
