Drillers evolve with modern industry's needs
Upstream, June 6
Drillers like Ensco International and Rowan have been beefing up the capabilities of their respective jack-up rig fleets in anticipation of sinking deeper wells both in shallow and deeper waters, writes Anthony Guegel.
According to Ensco boss Carl Thorne, a "premium" independent-leg jack-up rig capable of drilling in a minimum of 250 feet of water is today's "rig of choice" for operators in the Gulf.
Yet Ensco has gone a step further with its pursuit of "super-premium" jack-ups, which it defines as a 10,000-hp rig equipped with three mud pumps, a 680-tonne (1.5 million-pound) derrick for hoisting and drilling through at least 350 feet of water.
Such features are not a luxury, but a necessity if operators are to tap deeper reservoirs cost effectively. The easy-to-drill prospects, according to Thorne, are all gone.
"This is a fairly mature industry, and certainly the Gulf of Mexico is a fairly mature province," Thorne says. "The low-lying fruit has been picked."
He adds: "We must evolve as an industry to pick in the secondary fruit. The secondary fruit is going to be found deeper and is going to be more expensive to pick. We've got to get used to that.
"It's going to be more expensive to pick in terms of having equipment that can cost effectively, efficiently drill these wells. That's one of the reasons we're doing all these upgrades."
Thorne says the deep-shelf phenomenon gripping the Gulf is taking root in other hydrocarbon regions.
Operators in Trinidad, the Middle East, and South-east Asia are all asking for rigs that can sink the bit deeper.
"We are not just rigging these rigs up for the Gulf of Mexico," Thorne says. "This is a trend all over the world."
Rowan chief Danny McNease believes the increase in requests for high-performance jack-ups outside the Gulf this summer could spark an exodus of as many as 19 rigs within the next two months.
"I think that you're going to see the dynamics change drastically in the Gulf of Mexico in the next four to six weeks," McNease says. Besides drilling deeper, Rowan claims it can drill quicker and cheaper. Rowan official Bill Province said the contractor has reached target depth in under 30 days with average deep well costs ranging between $10 million and $12 million.
As of late May, Rowan had 20 jack-ups and one semisub deployed in the Gulf.
One jack-up, the Rowan Gorilla VI, has been drilling deep for Anadarko.
After a spell with Gryphon Exploration, the rig will set out to sink a deep probe on the Gulf shelf for Devon Energy.
According to Rowan, Anadarko has asked the driller for a jack-up to drill a well down to 28,000 feet in the Gulf this fall. UK supermajor BP is understood to be plotting an even deeper well on the shelf in 2004. Total target depth is said to be 32,000 feet.
Either of those assignments could fall to the Rowan Bob Palmer, a so-called Super Gorilla that is in the yard at Sabine Pass, Texas, for outfitting.
Commissioning is scheduled for sometime in the third quarter 2003.
Such requirements from Gulf explorers have moved McNease to label the deep shelf a "new frontier".
"We think it's the answer to the gas problem in the US," says Thorne. "It is the trend. It is the evolution of this industry." |
