Norwegian group Archer has secured a $115million well plugging and abandonment contract with Statoil that will utilise the firm’s latest modular rig Archer Topaz.
The unit is being built on the strength of the deal and will P&A a dozen wells in the Heimdal field in the Norwegian North Sea.
Operations are expected to start during H2 2014 and the scheduled contract duration is 34 months, plus four option periods of three months each.
Carrying out plugging and abandonment operations on a modular rig is a first for Archer and, says the company, the offshore industry as a whole.
Archer claims the Statoil decision marks a major advancement for the industry and should see safer, faster, more efficient plugging and abandonment operations, with less people on board than has been customary.
The Archer Topaz, Archer’s second modular rig, has been designed and will be built in co-operation with German rig manufacturer Max Streicher in line with Norway’s current NORSOK regulations.
It has been developed to meet the specific requirements of the Heimdal contract which includes flexibility for the client as regards quick installation and removal times.
Kjetil Bjørnson, Archer’s president and general manager for the North Sea, said of the arrangement: “This modular rig contract for Archer in the North Sea represents an important strategic move in the direction of offshore plugging and abandonment solutions.
“We are excited to secure our first modular rig contract in the North Sea, which is the market it was designed for. The award demonstrates the attractiveness of our concept which combines flexibility, efficiency, short rig-up and rig-down time.”
He claimed it to be a “unique proposition” for clients, both for plug and abandonment services and production drilling from fixed offshore platforms.
“We have worked with Statoil since 1984; it is a strong and important relationship for us.”
The new modular rig will follow the design of Archer’s first modular rig, the Archer Emerald, which is considered to be a breakthrough in its own right.
The Emerald is currently working for Shell Todd (STOS) in New Zealand on a production drilling contract which started last year.
Archer’s modular rigs are designed to stand alone and can be rigged up on most offshore installations and perform most of the drilling-related operations normally performed from a platform including completions and P&A.
They are rack and pinion driven modular drilling and intervention rigs, a concept proven by Streicher on land rigs in Europe but a new concept for the North Sea.
Archer says its modular package is lighter and more compact than alternatives, reducing the platform size required, the size of the drilling crew and construction costs.
Moreover, it can be tailored to meet well-specific requirements and provides operators with an apparently cost-efficient alternative to both mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) and traditional platform drilling rigs on existing and future installations.
Archer is listed on the Oslo stock exchange. Its corporate lineage reaches back to 1977. As a brand, however, Archer is only two years old. It was launched on February 24, 2011, upon the acquisition of Allis-Chalmers Energy by Seawell of Norway.
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