Canadian operator charters jack-up rig for Gulf of Thailand campaign

Canada-based oil and gas company Valeura Energy has agreed with Petrovietnam Drilling and Well Service Corporation to charter a jack-up drilling rig to support its Gulf of Thailand operations in 2023.

Following a sale and purchase agreement in April 2022, Valeura completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of KrisEnergy International last June. As a result, the company now holds an operated interest in two shallow water offshore licences in the Gulf of Thailand – Licence G10/48, containing the Wassana oil field, and Licence G6/48 containing the Rossukon oil field.

As detailed by Valeura in a statement on Tuesday, the PV Drilling I rig is expected to mobilise to the Wassana field in mid-2Q 2023, where it will conduct an initial scope of work comprised of the company’s five-well infill drilling programme. The arrangement includes an option to extend the scope of work thereafter, to include additional drilling operations at the company’s discretion.

Valeura also reiterated its previous target that it expects to re-start production from the Wassana oil field in 4Q 2022, with initial oil production rates of up to 3,000 bbls/d (net to the 89 per cent working interest held by Valeura’s subsidiaries). The production from the field was suspended in May 2020 while under the previous operator.

In addition to the re-start, the company is also targeting an increase to approximately 4,500 bbls/d (net) as a result of the 2023 infill drilling programme.

The company added it is continuing to make good progress on the key work streams in support of production re-start at Wassana, including securing the recertification of the field’s mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) facility and procuring a suitable floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel.

Valeura previously said that the combination of owning, rather than leasing, the MOPU and establishing more favourable FSO lease rates would result in a materially lower cost base for the Wassana field than under the previous operator.

Sean Guest, Valeura President and CEO, commented: “With positive progress on all key work streams, supporting the return to active production operations, we are already setting our sights on our growth targets, and with this drilling rig contract in place we will be well-prepared to increase production in 2023.”