Rig: West Elara

Gas discovery on the Valemon field in the North Sea – 34/11-6 S

Statoil Petroleum AS, operator of production licence 193 D, has concluded the drilling of wildcat well 34/11-6 S. The well was drilled from the Valemon facility, 160 km northwest of Bergen. The objective of the well was to prove petroleum in the Middle Jurassic (the Brent group). The well encountered two gas columns of about 80 and 35 metres in the Tarbert and Ness formations, respectively. There were 50 metres of sandstone with moderate to good reservoir quality in the Tarbert formation and 10 metres of sandstone with poor reservoir quality in the Ness formation. Preliminary estimates place the size of the discovery between 3 - 8 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalents. The well will be completed and will start production from the Valemon facility. Data acquisition was carried out. This is the first exploration well in production licence 193 D. Well 34/11-6 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 4337 metres below the sea surface, and was terminated in the Drake formation in the Lower to Middle Jurassic. Water depth at the site is 133 metres. Well 34/11-6 S was drilled by the West Elara drilling facility, which is permanently stationed at the Valemon facility.

Audit of West Elara

The PSA has carried out an audit of North Atlantic Drilling in respect of structural safety at West Elara. West Elara is a jack-up drilling facility owned and operated by North Atlantic Drilling (NAD). The facility was issued with an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AOC) by the PSA in December 2011. The PSA has carried out an audit of the operational organisation for West Elara relating to competence within structural safety, the history of structural incidents and maritime systems, operational life assessments and routines for investigating structural incidents. The audit took place at NAD's premises in Bergen on 1 and 2 December 2016. The audit detected no non-conformities or improvement points.

Giant rig West Elara arrives in Ølensvåg

One of the world's largest jack-up rigs has arrived at Westcon Yard in Ølen. New rig West Elara arrived in the fjord last Wednesday loaded on cargo vessel Mighty Servant 1. It is planned that the rig will be at the yard for six weeks, informed Project Manager Rolf Eikemo. The new build has taken two months in transit from Singapore to Ølen. The rig arrived as planned last Wednesday, and by Sunday was ready for work to begin. The rig is owned by North Atlantic Drilling, that is a company which Seadrill have a 75% ownership. "Seadrill is a company that returns to the yard time and again, and with whom we have a long and close working relationship", says Rolf Eikemo. The main tasks for Westcon Yard will be completion and preparation for working in the North Sea. West Elara enters into a contact with Statoil at the end of November.