NORWAY is a busy market for the local subsidiary of Aberdeen-based Abbot Group.
KCA Deutag Drilling Norge’s contract with StatoilHydro for drilling services on the Kvitebjorn platform, has been renewed for a further two years. The extension is worth about £11million.
This is the third of three options exercised by StatoilHydro and means KCA Deutag now has drilling contracts on seven StatoilHydro installations until 2010.
KCA Deutag has drilled on Kvitebjorn since summer 2003 and has co-operated closely with StatoilHydro in the development and use of managed pressure drilling (MPD) in this field.
A fully-automated MPD package was used last year to drill two high-pressure, high-temperature reservoir sections in the field.
StatoilHydro is training its Gullfaks C crews in MPD operations on KCA Deutag’s Dart simulator and well-engineering system in Aberdeen, which allows downhole conditions to be integrated and simulated using real well data so that drilling can be practiced in a safe environment.