Exploration and Appraisal Drilling Operations in the South Atlantic

摘要

The paper describes how the teamwork and continuity provided by utilising a drilling project management company based in Aberdeen and a single drilling contractor enabled two small UK operating companies, with limited in-house operational resources, to conduct offshore drilling campaigns in an area remote from established support centres. It will summarise the geological conditions encountered in the North Falklands Basin and discuss the drilling engineering and well planning. It will also discuss the importance of the logistics planning and supply chain management, which included the enhancement of limited onshore support facilities in Port Stanley and the introduction of industry standard safe operating procedures. The paper will also review the day to day drilling operations and interaction with the local authorities. On Saturday 17 March 2012, the Ocean Guardian semi-submersible drilling unit returned to Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth at the end of an 8000 mile ocean tow from the South Atlantic. The rig left the firth in November 2009 to make the journey south, arriving on its first location north of the Falkland Islands in February 2010. In the intervening period it successfully worked for three different operators, drilling nine exploration wells (including one in the southern basin) and seven appraisal wells, two of which were tested, discovering and delineating the Sea Lion oil field. Water depths, with the one exception in the southern basin, were up to 450m. The paper will demonstrate that with detailed and careful planning, inclusive management and modern communications technology, drilling operations in remote locations can be conducted safely and efficiently.