A North Sea oil and gas exploration firm has cut short a contract with semi-submersible rig operator Awilco Drilling after technical issues on a well.
The northern North Sea Timon well, operated by MPX North Sea, has been suspended for re-entry and MPX is now having to search for another rig after ending its contract with Awilco Drilling, said partner Valiant Exploration yesterday.
Aberdeen-based Awilco Drilling’s WilHunter rig had suffered downtime on the Timon exploration well in the northern North Sea.
Valiant Exploration, 10% partner in the Timon licence, said the cancellation was a result of the technical downtime – described in May, when it occurred, as equipment failure.
Awilco Drilling has said the contract had been due to run about another 21 days, but that the rig would now move to its next client drilling in the central North Sea once repairs have been completed in the middle of this month.
The WilHunter’s issues on Timon follow technical issues involving it on the Orlando well, also operated by MPX North Sea, in the first quarter of this year.
Awilco bought the WilHunter from Transocean in 2009 and it underwent upgrade work in Remontowa Shipyard in Poland before being put into use last year.
It was built originally by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Machinery in South Korea and completed in 1983.
Awilco, which also operates the WilPhoenix, said earlier this week it had a total contract backlog of about £256.7million for the two rigs.
The firm was founded in 2009 with the purchase of the rigs, which were then refurbished and began operating last year.
It is majority-owned by the Awilhelmsen Group and employs about 25 people at Westhill and about 185 offshore.