THE China Oilfield Services Limited seeker jack-up drilling rig left Port Moresby last Friday for Gulf to be used in the Twinza Oil (PNG) Limited’s Pasca gas field.The gas field is about 95 kilometres off the Gulf coast.
According to Twinza, the drilling rig is capable of working in depths of up to 110 metres and capable of drilling to 9000 metres below the seabed.
The rig was brought to Port Moresby last Thursday by the heavy-lift vessel Xiang Rui Kou which was ballasted down on Friday morning to allow
the rig to float off the deck of the ship.
The rig was due to reach the Pasca A4 drilling site yesterday. It was towed by two tugs.
The Pasca A4 well is the last appraisal well on the Pasca A gas-condensate field and will be extensively evaluated and flow-tested.
Well operations are expected to continue until the end of next month.
The company said prior to drilling, site-specific environment studies and social mapping studies will be done and then assessed and approved by the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority.
Managing director Huw Evans said: “The drilling of the Pasca A4 well is a key landmark in the development of the
Pasca A field which has lain
discovered and undeveloped for nearly 50 years.
“Since the signing of the Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) 328 in 2011, Twinza has worked closely with the ministries and regulators to advance the Pasca A field development to the point where we believe that first field production can be achieved 24 months after
the FID (final investment decision).
“We look forward to the development of the Pasca A field as this would provide increased government revenues, facilitate the development of local services, generate employment and provide Pasca A natural gas liquids to the domestic market to displace and substitute expensive imports of diesel and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).” The National