Expert Rig Sourcing Team Gives AGR Advantage in Tight Market

A team set up recently by AGR to tackle the problem of sourcing rigs in an exceptionally tight market is already proving its worth.

The global oil and gas service provider took the unusual step of establishing the dedicated unit earlier this year to ensure it was able to ecure the best available rig for every project, despite worldwide capacity problems.

With a particular focus on the North Sea, the team is also concentrating on the Falklands, the Mediterranean and Africa and is achieving success in all four areas.

Based in Aberdeen, the AGR Rig Team is headed by Duncan Weir, who brings more than 25 years’ experience contracting rigs in the worldwide oil and gas industry to a role he believes is unique among well management companies.

Duncan said: “The worldwide market ramped up about five years ago and remains exceedingly tight, particularly for deepwater operations. The North Sea is perhaps the toughest market and it has been getting harder and harder for companies to get their hands on rigs there and in other areas.”

The market AGR’s rig team is facing in the North Sea shows effective utilisation of 100%, with about 40 plus semisubmersibles in action, the same number of jack-up rigs and two drill ships. Availability of units in the North Sea is expected to remain scarce in the short to medium term.

Duncan added: “There is a lot of general information around on rig capacity, but AGR wanted to get behind that and get a good handle on what’s actually happening in the market. With that knowledge, which we keep constantly refreshed and up to date, we aim to bring together the drilling contractors and the needs of our clients and bring them into the AGR network.

“Since the start of the year we have been working to identify capacity in the North Sea in particular and also in the Falklands, the Mediterranean and across Africa. We have been successful in this and are currently working on commercial opportunities in all four of these areas.”

AGR is a pioneer of the multi-well multi-operator model allowing it to maximise efficiency for both rig owners and clients. The company is currently coordinating a campaign for the Bredford Dolphin involving four operators and 12 wells in the Norwegian North Sea for an extended initial period of 540 days. It is also managing multi-operator campaigns for the Borgland Dolphin and Leiv Eiriksson.

The world’s largest independent well management group, AGR has drilled more than 480 wells for clients across the globe in some of the world’s most challenging environments. In recent years the company has also established itself as the leading management contractor of multi-client rig campaigns.

The Rig Team works closely within AGR’s highly successful Well Management Division, drawing on its expertise on a project by project basis.

Press Release, September 02, 2013