Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil) has finally pulled the plug on a revolutionary catamaran-hull drilling vessel intended to cut well workover costs in its Aasgard development in the Norwegian Sea.
The company has canceled a contract with Smedvig AS, Stavanger, which called for the drilling contractor to build and operate a small waterplane area twin-hull (Swath) drilling vessel under a $150 million 5 year contract.
But the Swath hull design fell short of stability requirements during wave tank tests, and Statoil decided to look into replacing the vessel's hull with a semisubmersible type design (OGJ, Aug. 5, p. 30).
Now Statoil has canceled the contract with Smedvig and abandoned plans to build a light well-completion and workover rig.
Petter Tomren, Statoil's vice-president for upstream procurement, said, "Although the Swath project in its original form is now shelved, we still need a unit for well completion and maintenance. We're currently making market soundings to find alternative solutions."
The Swath design failure is likely to raise development costs of Aasgard, since Statoil claimed the vessel would save it $80 million compared with use of a conventional semisubmersible.
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