Statoil cleared to use Songa Cat D rig duo for Troll work

Norway’s Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) for work on two wells on the Troll field offshore Norway using two Songa Offshore-owned Cat D drilling rigs.

The PSA issued two consents to Statoil on Thursday, one for work on the 31/2-X-11 CH well and the other for the 31/2-Y-24 CYH XT well.

The first consent applies to the use of Songa Endurance for drilling, completion, workover, intervention and plugging (P&A) of 31/2-X-11 CH.

According to the PSA, the drilling operations are scheduled to begin in March and are expected to last 43 days.

The second consent is for the use of the Songa Equinox for drilling, completion, workover, intervention and plugging (P&A) of 31/2-Y-24 CYH XT.

The PSA said that the drilling operations were scheduled to begin in April and were expected to last 80 days.

Water depth at both sites is 332 meters.

Both the Songa Endurance and the Songa Equinox are Cat D semi-submersible drilling rigs operated by Songa Offshore. The rigs received their Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in late 2015. The Cat D mid-water semi-submersible rig concept was designed for efficient year around drilling, completion, testing and intervention operations in a harsh environment.

The rig duo is currently on an eight-year deal with Statoil on the Troll field with both rigs beginning their contracts in December 2015.

As for the field, the Troll field is around 65 kilometers west of Kollsnes in Hordaland county. It has been developed using three integrated process and accommodation platforms, Troll A, B, and C, and subsea well templates tied back to the B and C platforms.

The Troll field contains around 40 percent of the total gas reserves on the Norwegian Continental Shelf but is also among the largest oil fields on the shelf.

Offshore Energy Today Staff