Maersk drillship gearing up for Namibian ultra-deep-water well
French energy major TotalEnergies is preparing to drill a wildcat well in waters offshore Namibia, using a Maersk Drilling-owned drillship.
According to the latest AIS data, the Maersk Voyager drillship departed Luanda, Angola on 14 November and was expected to reach Walvis Bay in Namibia later on the 19th.
Before heading to Namibia, the drillship worked for TotalEnergies on the ultra-deep-water Ondjaba-1 exploration well in Angola’s Block 48. The work on Ondjaba-1 started in October 2021 and it was supposed to be drilled at a new world record water depth of 3,628 m.
However, there are still no updates on the results of this Angolan well.
The seventh generation rig is now scheduled to work in Namibia and drill the ultra-deep-water Venus well and, after that, it has one one-well option remaining under its contract with TotalEnergies.
The Maersk Voyager high-spec ultra-deep-water drillship was built by Samsung Heavy Industries in Geoje-Si, South Korea and it was delivered in February 2015.
In Namibia, TotalEnergies operates the deep offshore exploration Blocks 2913B (40 per cent interest) and 2912 (37.78 per cent interest). The Venus-1 well is located on Block 2913B. Africa Oil Corporation, through its 30.9 per cent shareholding in Impact Oil & Gas, has exposure to the Venus-1 exploration well.
According to an update from Africa Oil earlier last week, the Venus-1 exploration well is expected to spud by the end of this year. Venus-1 will target a large basin floor fan system with significant undiscovered petroleum initially in place that has been identified using 3D seismic data.
As reported earlier last week, another Maersk-owned drillship recently completed operations for TotalEnergies, this time in Block 58 offshore Suriname. TotalEnergies and its partner APA Corporation completed a flow test at an appraisal well in the block, confirming an excellent quality black oil reservoir, but failed to find commercial hydrocarbons at the latest exploration well there.
In other related news, Maersk Drilling has entered into an agreement to combine with rival Noble Corporation, which will result in the creation of a combined company with a fleet of 20 floaters and 19 jack-up rigs.
Source: Offshore Energy Today