Sakhalin I consortium hires Parker Drilling to build and operate rig
By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Mar. 19 -- The multinational Sakhalin I consortium, led by ExxonMobil Corp., has hired Parker Drilling Co., Houston, to build and operate an advanced, special-purpose rig to drill extended-reach wells to offshore targets from a land-based site on Sakhalin Island, Russia, Parker Drilling said.
The drilling project includes two contracts. A Parker subsidiary will design and build the rig and transport it to Russia. A second Parker subsidiary will operate the rig on Sakhalin Island. Rig construction is expected to be completed by midyear.
"The rig will be purchased by the Sakhalin I Consortium, in line with our stated 2002 goal of limiting our capital expenditures in the interest of reducing current debt levels," said Parking Drilling Pres. and CEO Robert L. Parker Jr.
He said the Sakhalin rig will be engineered exclusively for this project and will be "the most sophisticated land drilling rig in the world, designed to withstand earthquakes and operate in the frigid winters where ice covers the Sea of Okhotsk for 6 months of the year."
The Sakhalin I, Phase 1 project will be an oil-only development with a peak production target of 250,000 b/d. (OGJ, Aug. 13, 2001, p. 35).
Although Phase 1 is an oil-only project, marketing of future gas production from the Sakhalin I blocks continues. Japan, China, and Russia have expressed interest in purchasing the gas.
Development planning activities are progressing, and start-up is likely by yearend 2005. ExxonMobil has 30% interest in the project through its subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas Ltd., operator for the consortium, and projects the total Phase 1 project investment at $3.7 billion.
The Japanese company Sakhalin Oil & Gas Development Co. Ltd. has a 30% interest, and Russian companies Sakhalinmorneftegas-Shelft and Rosneft-Sakhalin each has a 23% and 17% interest in the project, respectively.
