A consortium comprising Noble Energy, Premier Oil and Borders & Southern are now making detailed preparations for drilling off the Falkland Islands.
According to a Norwegian drilling “scout”, a tender has now been issued by the trio for a harsh-environment ultra-deepwater mobile drilling unit to undertake a programme offshore the Falklands starting late-2014/early-2015.
The tender covers six firm wells and 16 optional wells, with the bulk of the work scope for Noble Energy.
But this has been out a while and the start date may in fact now have slipped to mid-2015.
The scout claims that Ocean Rig with the Eirik Raude and NADL with West Navigator are the most likely candidates for the campaign.
The Eirik Raude was supposed to conduct the last hunt for Noble but was replaced at the last minute by brother rig Leiv Eiriksson.
West Navigator was, when built, the only ultra-deepwater drillship that was compliant with UK regulations. This is important for the Falklands exploration is based on the British health, safety and compliance regime.
Not far away to the west of the Falklands, Total has issued a tender for a UDW rig to drill offshore Uruguay. The tender also covers some offshore Brazil work.
The programme is scheduled to be for two to three years, starting in 2015. Technical and contractual submissions were due in January.
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