Update: Sirius hires Shelf Drilling rig for Nigeria ops. ‘COSL Force’ deal rescinded

Update: Adds more details provided by Sirius Petroleum. COSL rig deal rescission confirmed.

Offshore driller Shelf Drilling has secured a contract for the Adriatic I jack-up rig with Sirius Petroleum. Shelf on Monday said Sirius Petroleum would use the Adriatic I rig for its drilling program offshore Nigeria.

The 1981-built rig was significantly upgraded in 2014. It has a maximum drilling depth of 25,000 feet in a maximum water depth of 350 feet. Also, the Adriatic I can accommodate 120 people.

The contract term is for 135 days plus options and planned start-up of operations in Q4 2018. No commercial details have been disclosed.

It was not initially clear what the Shelf contract meant for the rig deal Sirius has with the Chinese driller COSL for the COSL Force jack-up unit planned to be used for drilling in Nigeria.

In an email sent later to Offshore Energy Today,  Sirius Petroleum confirmed it decided, by mutual agreement with COSL, to abrogate its agreement with COSL for the supply of a jack-up rig for the drilling programme on the Ororo field, OML 95.

Sirius said: “Sirius has sourced and signed an agreement with Shelf Drilling Limited (“Shelf”) to supply its Adriatic I jack-up rig which is scheduled to become available during November and is in close proximity to the Ororo field.”

“The proposed rig is fully certified, currently concluding a well campaign with another operator utilising Schlumberger services and equipment on board the Adriatic I, and meets the specifications required for the Company’s proposed drilling programme at Ororo-2 and Ororo-3. As previously announced, the Company and its operational partners, Schlumberger and Add Energy intend to achieve the spudding of Ororo-2 at the earliest possible time during Q4 2018,” Sirius said.

Bobo Kuti, CEO of Sirius Petroleum plc, said: “We are delighted to have sourced a drilling rig which is currently on station in the Niger Delta and is ahead of schedule on its current drilling programme, hence has become available. It meets our technical criteria for the Ororo field drilling programme and we look forward to working with our operational partners Schlumberger and Add Energy on commencing the Ororo drilling programme.”

COSL rig maintenance

Sirius Petroleum which has been working towards spudding the Ororo-2 well in September said that the COSL Force jack-up rig, contracted for the Ororo drilling in Nigeria, was undergoing an extensive maintenance program under a recertification process conducted by COSL on station in Dubai.

The COSL rig maintenance has taken significantly longer than originally envisaged since the drilling of the Ororo-2 well was supposed to begin back in April.

Sirius late in September said the maintenance was at an advanced stage, and that spudding of Ororo-2 would take place in Q4 2018, however, the driller will now use Shelf Drilling’s rig.

COSL had decided to use the COSL Force jack-up rig back in March 2018, although that was not the first choice. The initial pick for the Ororo drilling campaign was the COSL Power jack-up, selected in May 2017. At the time, the COSL Force was described as being “ready to be mobilized to Nigeria shortly.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff