Askeladden seeking its fortune on Gullfaks

 

Askeladden has been bought by the Gullfaks licence to carry out production and exploration drilling on Gullfaks Satellites. For several months the rig had to wait on weather, both on its way from the yard in South Korea and when it met the Norwegian winter weather. It arrived at the field on February 19 and on March 5 the legs were firmly placed on the seabed at its final location by the subsea template.

 

 

“Gullfaks has been, and will continue to be, a promising area, and more exploration wells will be drilled during the next years, in combination with production drilling. We are planning a long field life beyond 2030 on Gullfaks, and Askeladden will be key to maintain high value creation on the field," said Gunnar Nakken, head of the operations west cluster in Statoil (STO).

 

The new Cat J jackup rig Askeladden started drilling on the Gullfaks field on March 26.

 

Plugging of two wells starts now before they are going to reuse the wells, so-called slot recovery, and drill to new well targets. The second well will have a sidetrack to the Rimfaks Lomvi prospect at 4,200 metres depth to explore for new hydrocarbon deposits.

 

So far, 11 wells are planned for the first two years of operation, however, the rig is to meet a long-term need. New plans reaching beyond 2020 are continuously being developed. The KCA Deutag drilling contractor was awarded an 8-year contract.

 

 "This is a very exciting rig which is well prepared for a digitalized future, and can start using almost any new technology. It has a subsea blowout preventer, which is not common on jackup rigs. That makes it an excellent working platform for improved work efficiency, and reduces our need to wait on weather. Our challenge will be to utilize the weather windows properly, and avoid moving the rig in the winter season,” saidCarlos Kauffmann, drilling superintendent for the Cat J rig Askeladden.