Statoil has let a contract to Odfjell Drilling for platform drilling and related services at Mariner heavy oil field in UK waters 150 km east of the Shetland Islands.
The 4-year, £160-million contract begins on Nov. 16 and has 2-year extension options.
Statoil expects the field to produce an average of 55,000 b/d of oil during the plateau period of 2017-20 through a steel drilling, production, and quarters platform into floating storage facilities (OGJ Online, Feb. 15, 2013).
The platform will have 50 well slots, but Statoil expects to use multibranch wells, sidetracks, and slot reuse to reach more than 140 production and injection targets (OGJ Online, Sept. 8, 2011). A jack up rig will supplement early drilling.
Odfjell will provide platform drilling services, maintenance of the drilling facility, and drillpipe logistics for Mariner with options on development of Bressay heavy oil field to the northeast. Statoil expects to make a development decision about Bressay field this year.
Statoil operates Mariner field for a group that includes JX Nippon Exploration & Production (UK) and Alba Resources Ltd.
