Drilling developments

Aug. 2002 Vol. 223 No. 8  Drilling Developments

Robert E. Snyder,  Executive Engineering Editor

OCS Lease Sale 184. Minerals Management Service has released its Final Notice of Sale Package for OCS Lease Sale 184 in the Western Gulf of Mexico. Several lease stipulations are detailed in the MMS sale notice. As the National Ocean Industries Association notes, some of these provisions mark significant changes from past least sales, including: 1) a vaguely-worded provision indicating that mandatory participation in a marine mammal/protected species observer training program will be required; 2) mandatory measures for seismic surveys aimed at mitigating any possible detrimental impacts on whales and other marine mammals; and 3) oil spill contingency planning that identifies important habitats of protected species. Full details can be found at: www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/184stipf.pdf.

New MMS Director. Ms. Johnnie Burton is the new Director of the Minerals Management Service. Her appointment became effective in March. She brings a wealth of experience in state government, the oil/gas industry and education to the job. Since 1995, she served on the Governor of Wyoming’s cabinet as Director of the Department of Revenue. Before that, she was VP of TCF Inc., an oil/gas exploration company based in Casper, Wyoming.

Prior to that, she was VP of Dwights Energydata, Inc., an information company specializing in oil/gas databases. And she was founder/president of Hotline Energy Reports, which later merged with Dwights Energy Data. From 1982 through 1988, she was a member of the Wyoming State House of Representatives. Her career highlights also include positions as lecturer and teacher of French. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Wyoming.

Her journey to America began in French Algeria where she was born. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1963, and became a citizen in 1968. Her late husband, a former wildcatter, was a major influence in her life. "I knew him since my days in Algiers, and learned a lot about the oil and gas industry from him," she said.

New Transocean shallow-water business segment. Transocean announced that it plans to pursue a divestiture of its Gulf of Mexico Shallow and Inland Water business segment. Plans are to establish the business as a separate, publicly-traded company, and it is preparing an initial public offering of that company. It expects to sell a portion of its interest in the IPO, which it hopes to complete by late 2002.

The new business segment consists principally of jackup and drilling-barge operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. It also includes the company’s drilling operations in Trinidad and Venezuela. The affected fleet currently comprises 28 jackups, three submersibles, 31 inland drilling barges and a platform rig, as well as nine land rigs in Venezuela. It acquired these assets in early 2001, following its merger with R&B Falcon.

More Sable Island drilling. Canadian Superior Energy announced that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has granted it approval to drill the company’s Marquis L-35 well offshore Nova Scotia. This allowed Rowan’s Gorilla V jackup to start its tow from Halifax Harbor to the Marquis well site in the Sable Island area. On July 1st, Canadian Superior co-hosted the official launch of the offshore Nova Scotia Marquis gas project. The company said the Marquis well is the first of a multi-well drilling program planned by Canadian Superior for the Scotian Shelf and they expected to start drilling "within the next few days."

The prospect is located about 12 mi NW of Sable Island, directly on trend with, and analogous to, the recent Deep Panuke Abenaki reef gas discovery. Deep Panuke is about 16 mi to the SW of Marquis and has successfully tested several delineation wells, each with productive capacity in excess of 50 MMcfd. The Deep Panuke production rate is expected to exceed 400 MMcfd when it is brought online.

The first Marquis well will be drilled to a minimum depth of 14,100 ft TVD, or enough to test the main deep Abenaki reef section. Gorilla V is one of the largest jackups in the world and is the first of a series of Super Gorilla class jackups capable of drilling/producing simultaneously in water depths up to 400 feet, in harsh environments like offshore Eastern Canada.

Footprint-problem study. Global Maritime, UK, and Fugro Ltd., UK, have launched a major, industry-funded project to investigate problems associated with jackup rig installations at sites where other rigs have operated. They say there is often a tendency for the spudcan of the rig being installed to move toward seabed depressions, or "footprints," caused by previous installations. These adverse movements can result in structural damage, both to the rig and the onsite infrastructure. The unsatisfactory positioning often has significant lost time and cost implications; and there is potential for personnel injury.

The project will help reduce occurrence of these adverse movements with development of a Best Practice Guideline document. The project is being funded by BP, Eni-Agip, Ensco International, ExxonMobil, GlobalSantaFe, Keppel FELS/Offshore Technology Development, Phillips, TotalFinaElf UK, Shell UK Expro and the UK Health and Safety Executive.

The initial project task is to acquire and collate data on experience of jackup installation operations where spudcan-footprint interaction has been a potential problem. This data will be collected by questionnaires circulated throughout the industry. Each case of spudcan-footprint interaction will be investigated to establish conditions/mechanisms—criteria will then be developed for identifying cases where difficulties could be expected.

This task will be followed by investigation of spudcan-footprint interaction prevention methods/procedures; and the applicability of each of these will be researched for generic problematic soil conditions identified from the initial project task. Analytical techniques and installation procedures will be developed which will help identify potential problem sites and provide guidance on appropriate mitigation measures. Further details and copies of the questionnaire are available from Phil Wilson, Fugro: pwilson@fugro.co.uk; tel: 44 1442 240781.