UK O&G Industry Successfully Tests Emergency Spill Response Equipment

- UK O&G Industry Successfully Tests Emergency Spill Response Equipment

Thursday, August 11, 2011
O&G UK

The UK oil and gas industry has successfully tested its ability to deploy a well capping device in the waters west of Shetland. As part of the industry's commitment to further strengthen the UK's emergency response capabilities, the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG) has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve well engineering and oil spill response capability, including the development of a well capping device for use in UK waters to seal-off an uncontrolled subsea oil well in the unlikely event of a major well control incident.

The purpose of the recent Emergency Equipment Response Deployment (EERD) exercise was to simulate the logistical process of transporting a well capping device, loading it on to a vessel and lowering it over the side before fixing it to a specially-built simulated well on the sea floor.

The exercise was project-managed and executed by Total E&P UK on behalf of Oil & Gas UK and ran from July 16-26, 2011 at a site in block 206/4, around 75km north west of Shetland.

The various stages of the exercise included:

• Exercise site prepared by deploying a specially-built landing base to the seafloor at a depth of 300 meters to accurately simulate a subsea well.
• Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) used to deploy subsea oil dispersant (in this instance, a non-toxic fluorescent dye).
• Heavy-duty cutting shears deployed to sever a subsea marine riser pipe. This would be done in a real-life scenario in order to clear the riser out of the way to make room for the cap to be landed.
• Capping device deployed over the side of a multi-service vessel using a crane.
• Device landed on to the well, locked on to the base and activated using ROVs.
• All equipment, including the landing base, recovered.

Oil & Gas UK's chief executive, Malcolm Webb, said, "The UK oil and gas industry has a very high level of confidence in its ability to prevent blowouts. We haven't experienced one here in over 20 years – in which time over 7,000 wells have been drilled.

"No matter how unlikely a blowout is, we recognize the importance of being prepared for low-probability, worst-case scenarios. This is why we regularly test our emergency response capabilities and why we wanted this particular exercise to be as realistic as possible.

"Its success proves we can not only quickly mobilize and deploy the capping device, but also incorporate the use of a wide variety of other related equipment, such as subsea dispersant and cutting shears, which in a real-life situation would be used as part of the same operation.

"The next stage will involve a full debrief involving all participants to identify any learning opportunities and Oil & Gas UK will share these findings throughout the industry."

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Range Successfully Drills First Development Well in Trinidad

- Range Successfully Drills First Development Well in Trinidad

Monday, August 08, 2011
Range Resources Ltd.

Range announced that in the two months since completing its Trinidad acquisition, the Company has successfully drilled its first development well on the Morne Diablo Block.

As part of the initial 21 well drilling program, the MD 247 well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 900 ft using the Company's own drilling rig and personnel. Despite the shallow depth, open hole logs indicate the presence of roughly 145 ft. of net oil pay in the shallow Forest Formation, an established producing horizon on the block. Casing is currently being run in the well in preparation for production testing next week.

Added Peter Landau, Range's Executive Director, "The successful drilling of the MD 247 well indicates that Range's aggressive program to increase production and cash flow in Trinidad is on track and the first pay zone size has exceeded expectations. As previously announced, we will be adding a second and third rig to the remaining 20 well 2011 drilling program in order to begin exploitation of deeper producing reservoirs. The MD 247 well is only the beginning for us in Trinidad, but represents an important milestone for Range as our first internationally operated well, drilled and completed by the Company's own operations team using our own equipment."

The Company looks forward to keeping our shareholders updated as our drilling program continues in Trinidad, Georgia, Texas, and Puntland, in what will be an exciting period for Range with wells being drilled on all four the Company's assets in the coming months.

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Wintershall Successfully Delineates Grosbeak Discovery

- Wintershall Successfully Delineates Grosbeak Discovery

Monday, July 18, 2011
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

Wintershall Norge ASA, operator of production licence 378, has concluded the drilling of appraisal wells 35/12-4 S and 35/12-4 A in the 35/12-2 Grosbeak oil and gas discovery.

The Grosbeak discovery was proven in 2009 in the Sognefjord formation and in the Brent Group in Upper and Middle Jurassic reservoir rock.

The appraisal wells were drilled approximately 2.5 kilometres northeast of the 35/12-2 Grosbeak discovery well and approximately 10 kilometres northeast of the Fram field.

The purpose of the 35/12-4 S and 35/12-4 A wells was to delineate the 35/12-2 Grosbeak discovery.

Well 35/12-4 S was drilled in the south-eastern part of the structure and encountered an oil column of 40 metres in the Brent Group (Ness formation) in Middle Jurassic reservoir rock. The reservoir quality was better than expected. A successful formation test has been conducted in the well. The production rate was 800 standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil with associated gas per flow day through a 44/64 inch nozzle opening. Maximum production rate was estimated at 1250 Sm3/ per flow day.

Well 35/12-4 A was drilled at the top Brent Group to study the north-eastern part of the Grosbeak structure. The upper part of the Ness formation consisted of thin alternating layers of sandstone and carbon, but no hydrocarbons.

The results from the wells will be included in the ongoing assessment of Grosbeak and the licensees will assess whether the discovery should be developed together with other discoveries in the area.

Comprehensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. Evaluations and analyses will be conducted to establish the size and extent of the discovery. Further delineation is likely to be necessary.

Wells 35/12-4 S and 35/12-4 A are the third and fourth exploration wells in production licence 378. The production licence was awarded in APA 2005.

Appraisal wells 35/12-4 S and 35/12-4 A were drilled to a vertical depth of 3585 and 3413 metres below sea level. Well 35/12-4 S was terminated in the Statfjord formation in Lower Jurassic rock and well 35/12-4 A was terminated in the Rannoch formation in Middle Jurassic rock. Both wells have been plugged and abandoned. The water depth is 359 metres.

The wells were drilled by the drilling facility Songa Delta, which will now be used in the Norwegian Sea to drill wildcat well 6607/12-2 S in production licence 127, where Total E&P Norge AS is the operator.

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Statoil Successfully Drills Peregrino South Sidetracks

- Statoil Successfully Drills Peregrino South Sidetracks

Monday, June 20, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by Karen Boman

Statoil has reported successful discoveries in both side tracks on the Peregrino South well, immediately adjacent to the newly opened Peregrino field offshore Brazil. Both wells were drilled by Fred Olsen semisub Blackford Dolphin.

The estimates of recoverable volumes in Peregrino South are between 150 – 300 million boe. This discovery brings a phase two development of the Statoil operated Peregrino field considerably closer.

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