UK based energy firm IOG has marked an “important step” with the spudding of the Blythe development well.
Following Elgood, Blythe is the second development well in the company’s Phase 1 project and is expected to take under three months to drill and complete.
Along with Southwark, the three fields comprise London-listed IOG’s “core” project.
The usually unmanned Blythe platform, built in the Netherlands by HSM Offshore, was installed in the southern North Sea in June.
The Noble Hans Deul jack-up rig mobilised from the Elgood field on July 27 – it jacked up at the Blythe Platform two days later.
After preparations for drilling were completed, the Blythe well was spudded at 11pm on August 2.
Once the gas well is drilled and completed, the Noble Hans Deul will move onto Southwark.
IOG, formerly Independent Oil and Gas, owns exactly half of the core project.
The remaining 50% is held by CalEnergy Resources, a subsidiary of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, led by US business magnet Warren Buffett.
Andrew Hockey, chief executive of IOG, said: “We are pleased to have moved safely over from Elgood to spud the next development well at Blythe, another important step for IOG in delivering our Phase 1 project.
“The Blythe well has been meticulously planned by the IOG drilling, subsurface, subsea and HSE teams in collaboration with our main drilling contractors Noble Corporation, Petrofac and Schlumberger, our Platform Duty Holder ODE Asset Management and our partner CalEnergy Resources (UK) Limited and fully integrates the learnings from the Elgood well.
“We have a very clear collective focus on ensuring safe and efficient performance leading successfully to First Gas in Q4 2021 from the Blythe Hub before continuing into 2022 at Southwark.”