Valaris nabs GTA drilling contract off W Africa
Offshore driller Valaris said July 6 it secured a four-well contract with BP for operations off Mauritania and Senegal, with work slated to begin in early 2022.
BP signed up for the Valaris DS-12 drillship, which start work in the first quarter of next year and finish within 285 days. No terms of the contract or day rates were disclosed. The drillship can operate in 12,000 ft of water and has a maximum drilling depth of 40,000 ft.
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BP is leading developments at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) field, where it envisions a 30-year production potential. BP estimates the field, situated on the maritime border between Mauritania and Senegal, holds around 15 trillion ft3 of natural gas.
The award for Valaris followed an announcement from project partner Kosmos Energy that first gas from GTA was coming later than expected. Citing supplier delays and cost inflation, Kosmos said the timeline had slipped from the first half to the third quarter of 2023.
The first phase of the project was sanctioned in late 2018, with a liquefaction capacity of 2.5mn metric tons/year. Production was originally due to start in 2020, but the launch was pushed back to 2023 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
That setback came after Kosmos in November reported that BP and other investors in the project had downsized its second phase in an attempt to cut costs. Originally the second phase was to ramp up output to 10mn mt/yr, but this has been lowered to 5mn mt/yr.
BP had no public comment on the Valaris award or the statements from Kosmos.