Total E&P Angola has awarded Maersk Drilling a three-well contract for seventh generation drillship Maersk Voyager to drill development wells in Block 17 offshore Angola.
The block, 150 km off the Angolan coast in water depths of 600-1,400 m, has produced almost 3 billion bbl of oil since 2001 by four floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units: Girassol (2001), Dalia (2006), Pazflor (2011), and CLOV (2014).
In December 2019, the operator signed an agreement with national oil, gas, and biofuels agency ANPG and state-owned Sonangol of Angola to extend the consortium’s production licenses to 2045 (OGJ Online, Dec. 16, 2019).
The rig contract has an estimated duration of 140 days, contracting Maersk Voyager until second-quarter 2021. The value of the contract is about $30 million, including provided integrated drilling services.
Two one-well options included in Maersk Voyager’s previously agreed work scope for Total remain.
Maersk Voyager is a high-spec ultra-deepwater drillship which was delivered in 2014. It has been operating offshore Africa since 2015 and commenced operations for Total E&P Angola in January.
Total is operator of Block 17 (40%) with partners Equinor (23.33%), ExxonMobil (20%), and BP (16.67%).