Repsol has lined up a rig to drill its Siluro-1 exploration well in block RC-11 offshore Colombia and plans to start drilling in Q2 this year.

The Spanish oil firm has lined up Maersk Drilling’s Maersk Developer deepwater semisubmersible for the shallow water job, under a one-well contract.

According to a 2014 presentation by Repsol, Siluro is a lower Micocene Carbonate prospect, with 1.6 Tcf gas resources, in 90m water depth. Repsol had been planning a well on the prospect in 2014, following success on its Orca well, offshore Colombia.

According to Maersk Drilling, the work will take an estimated 42 days. The estimated contract value for the Maersk Developer is US$12 million, including mobilization and demobilization costs.

The Mærsk Developer, built in 2009, is currently warm-stacked offshore Port Fourchon in the US Gulf of Mexico and has now started preparation work for commencing the new contract.

“The offshore drilling market remains extremely challenging, and therefore I am proud that we in Maersk Drilling continue to be able to secure contracts for our rigs. This contract marks a great opportunity for Maersk Drilling to further build on our good relationship with Repsol, and we look forward to delivering the well safely and efficiently for our client,” says Michael Reimer Mortensen, head of global sales at Maersk Drilling.

“A pre-planned reactivation process for the Mærsk Developer has now commenced in order to ensure a smooth start-up of operations and excellent performance delivery. With Maersk Drilling’s current stacking strategy, the main focus is to ensure the ability to reactivate our idle rigs in the safest and most efficient manner possible,” Mortensen adds.

Source: www.oedigital.com