Drilling/Production news briefs, July 09
Noble Drilling Corp., Sugar Land, Tex., said its Noble Jimmy Puckett independent leg cantilever jack up suffered damage while under tow in Indian waters. Significant weather caused the loss of the derrick and other components. The rig has returned to Mumbai, where it awaits inspection.
Chevron Corp. has signed a 2-year contract with Parker Drilling Co., Tulsa, for use of barge rig 74 in the Niger Delta. The contract also includes a 1-year option. In Indonesia, Parker's subsidiary PT DATI signed a new two-well contract with a one-well option with Irian Jaya Gas & Oil for land rig 206. The rig will mobilize in early July with an expected spud date in the latter half of August. In Papua New Guinea, land rig 140 will start drilling on a multiwell program for Chevron in July.
Soekor E & P, an arm of the South African state oil company, has extended its charter on Fred. Olsen Production AS' floating storage and offloading vessel Knock Dee for about a year, starting Jan. 1, 2002. Soekor has options to extend the deal, which provides for a bareboat day rate of $20,000.
Statoil AS has exercised its right of early termination of the contract for Smedvig ASA's jack up West Epsilon. The termination will be effective at the beginning of November. Previously, Statoil would have kept the rig until end-2002. West Epsilon is working on plugging and abandonment at Fr�y field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The early termination fee payable under the contract is $5 million.