Repsol hires ‘Rowan Stavanger’ for Varg P&A

Spanish oil firm Repsol has hired the Rowan Stavanger jack-up rig for work off Norway.

According to Petro.no, a Norwegian language energy news website, Repsol will use the rig for plugging and abandonment work at its Varg field, located in the North Sea offshore Norway. The rig has been out of work since mid-2015.

Following this report, Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Repsol seeking confirmation and further details about the contract. In an emailed response, a spokesperson for Repsol confirmed the jack-up will perform P&A activities on the Varg field under a contract estimated to last approximately 200 days.

The spokesperson further said the deal is estimated to start in 3/4Q 2017.

End of the road for Varg

To remind, a little over a year ago, Norwegian authorities gave Repsol consent for the removal of the Petrojarl Varg FPSO and subsea structures on the Varg field,

Previously, Spanish oil and gas company Repsol decided to shut down the Varg field as it was no longer considered profitable.

Repsol became the operator of the Varg field following its 2015 buy-out of Talisman, which had been the operator since 2005.

The field was developed using the Varg A wellhead facility, subsea structures and the Petrojarl Varg FPSO. Production from the field began in 1998.

The shutdown of Varg entails the removal of Petrojarl Varg FPSO and the subsea structures on the field.

According a May 2016 statement by the Norwegian offshore safety authorities, the Varg A wellhead facility will remain in place while plugging and removal of the wells takes place.

This is exactly what the Rowan Stavanger has been hired for. In addition, Repsol already contracted DeepOcean for provision of engineering, procurement, removal and disposal (EPRD) of Varg subsea facilities.

Regarding the fate of the FPSO, Teekay, the company that owns the FPSO Varg, recently informed it would cut its workforce by 70 positions due to a contract loss with Repsol.

Petrojarl Varg is a ship-shaped, turret moored, FPSO delivered in 1998. The FPSO has a storage capacity of 470,000 bbls and accommodation for 77 persons.

The plan was for the FPSO to go into layup, however, the unit shouldn’t be out of work for long, as Alpha Petroleum has shown interest in deploying the FPSO at its Cheviot field offshore UK, with the expected production start in 2018.

Offshore Energy Today Staff