Stena drillship arrives in Mexico ahead of new gig

A Stena Drilling-owned drillship, Stena IceMAX, has arrived in Mexico ahead of its contract with the Spanish oil company Repsol.

In a social media update on Wednesday, Stena Drilling said that the Stena IceMax rig had arrived in Tampico, Mexico to finalise preparations for its upcoming contract with Repsol.

Repsol awarded the contract to the Stena drillship for operations offshore Mexico back in September 2020.

Repsol and its partners in Block 29 – Petronas, Wintershall Dea, and PTTEP – will use the Stena IceMAX drillship for the 2021 drilling campaign in Block 29 located in the Salina Basin.

According to previous information, the drilling campaign is expected to start in May or June this year.

Stena IceMAX is a dynamically positioned, dual mast ice-class drillship. It is is a harsh environment DP Class 3 drillship capable of drilling in water depths up to 10, 000ft.

It is worth reminding that Repsol last year made two significant offshore oil discoveries with its Polok-1 and Chinwol-1 exploration wells drilled in Block 29. The wells were drilled using a Maersk Drilling-owned drillship.

The discoveries in Mexico’s Block 29 are just 12 km apart from each other, and 88 kilometers (55 miles) from the Mexican coastline of Tabasco, in water depths of approximately 600 meters (1,969 feet).

Repsol operates a total of six blocks offshore Mexico, three in deep water and three in shallow water areas.