Maersk Drilling Bags North Sea Work

Denmark’s Maersk Drilling has been hired by Oman’s Petrogas to sink an appraisal well at the Birgitta gas and condensate field in the UK North Sea.

Maersk will lend a harsh environment jack-up rig to drill the borehole, it said on September 2, under a contract worth $7.6mn. Work will commence in March 2020 and is expected to run for 70 days. The contract includes an additional 20-day option.

The award follows an announcement by Maersk on August 30 that Germany’s Wintershall DEA had executed an option for the Maersk Resolve jack-up to drill another well at the Sillimanite gas field in the Dutch waters of the North Sea. The work is slated to start in mid-2020 and run for around 100 days, and may include well tests.

Petrogas expects to produce more oil and gas in the UK at the end of this year, when its purchase of Total assets is completed.