Drilling/Production news briefs, Dec. 6

Uzenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakh national oil company Kazakhoil, has awarded Gaffney, Cline & Associates a 2-year contract to provide project management services to the Uzen oil field rehabilitation project. The field is in southwest Kazakhstan 100 miles from the Caspian Sea. Since coming on stream in 1965, Uzen has produced 2 billion bbl of oil. GCA estimates remaining recoverable reserves at up to 850 million bbl.

Ensco International Inc. said its recently built Ensco 7500 dynamically positioned semisubmersible rig has completed sea trials and has begun a 3-year contract with Burlington Resources Inc. Friede Goldman Halter Inc. built the rig at Orange, Tex. Ensco 7500 is working in East Breaks 599.

Command Drilling Corp., Calgary, has begun building two drilling rigs for use in western Canada. They will cost a total of $18.2 million. One will have depth capacity of 4,000 m, and the other 6,000 m. They are expected to begin work in March and July respectively. Command operates 13 other rigs.

Navis ASA rig Explorer I has begun a drilling contract for Brazilian company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras). The vessel is on the Marlin field off Rio de Janeiro. It will drill the first well in 1,700 m of water. The vessel will move to Foz do Amazonas in January to drill two wells for BP Brazil. Then it will drill a well for BP off Trinidad. The complete drilling program is expected to last 10-12 months.