Drilling/Production news briefs, Feb. 7

Feb. 7, 2002
Petrobras ... Aker Maritime ... Transocean Sedco Forex ... Triton Equatorial Guinea ... Reliance Industries ... Statoil ... Smedvig ... Marathon Oil ... Conoco ... Honeywell Industry Solutions ... Hitech Drilling Services India ... Prosafe

Brazilian company Petroleo Brasileiro SA has awarded Norwegian company Aker Maritime ASA an $8 million engineering contract for a semisubmersible platform for Marlim South field off Brazil. The contract carries an option for the engineering of one more platform, to be installed on nearby Roncador field.

Transocean Sedco Forex Inc., Houston, said two mobile offshore drilling units have been awarded contracts. Triton Equatorial Guinea Inc. has selected semisubmersible Sovereign Explorer for a 1-year contract worth up to $33 million to work off Equatorial Guinea. Indian company Reliance Industries Ltd. will take the drillship Discoverer 534 for a two-well, 60-day contract worth $8 million to work off India.

Statoil ASA's Statfjord C platform, which was shut down for 4 days after the Jan. 21 discovery of corrosion damage to a pipe in the flare system, is back on stream. The damaged piece was replaced. Statfjord produces 200,000 b/d of oil, including output from the Statfjord East, Statfjord North, and Sygna satellites.

Smedvig ASA said Marathon Oil Co.'s use of the West Navion rig off Canada continues to be suspended due to repair work on the main sheaves in the RamRig derrick. During inspection, defects have been discovered in certain welds in the marine riser. The initial repair work estimate is about 6 weeks.

Conoco Inc. has awarded Honeywell Industry Solutions a $14.5 million order to provide automation services for Belanak oil field development project off Indonesia.

Hitech Drilling Services India Ltd. has arranged for a 1-year extension of its contract to use Prosafe ASA's floating storage and offloading vessel Endeavor on PY-3 field off India. The extension runs July 27, and the estimated contract value is $5.5 million.