PHOTO: Jack-up Topaz Driller returns to work

Houston-based offshore drilling contractor Vantage Drilling has said that its jack-up drilling rig, the Topaz Driller, will be returning to work, this time offshore Thailand.

According to the company’s latest fleet status report, the new contract for the Topaz Driller is with Ophir Energy’s Thailand entity.

The rig has been in a warm stack mode since the second half of 2016. The mobilization process for the contract is expected to begin near the end of the first quarter of 2017 while the contract will begin and end during the second quarter.

Bill Thomson, VP of Marketing at Vantage, said: “We are pleased to announce that the Topaz Driller is returning to work on a 60-day contract in Thailand, where we look forward to continuing her legacy. Our thanks go to the many people who put in the hard effort to achieve this contract.”

Guy Dawson-Smith, Director of Operations, added that the Topaz has a great track record and that it is one of the highest specification jack-ups in the Far East.

The Topaz Driller is a cantilever jack-up rig of BMC 375 design. It was built in 2009 by PPL Shipyard in Singapore.

As far as the work for Ophir Thailand is concerned, the company’s only offshore asset there is the Bualuang offshore oil field where it holds 100 percent operating interest.

The field located in the Gulf of Thailand has been on-stream since 2008. It was initially thought to contain 15 mmbl of 2P reserves and have a productive life of approximately five years. However, the field has undergone numerous reserve upgrades, and by October 2015, it hit its 25 millionth barrel.

During 2016 the field had a seismic and water handling upgrade done resulting in a 1,400 bopd increase in production. A two-phase project to upgrade the surface facilities was also completed last year. The combined project has resulted in increasing the design capacity of the water handling and disposal system from 50,000 bwpd to 75,000 bwpd.

Offshore Energy Today Staff