Stena Carron Drillship Wins Contract West of Shetland

Updated: June 15, 2012 (Originally published April 5, 2012)

Valiant Petroleum announced today that it had entered into a contract to secure a firm rig slot on the Stena Carron drillship to drill the Handcross prospect (Valiant, 90%, operator) located in UK Blocks 204/18b West of Shetlands. Based on the Stena Carron’s current schedule the rig slot is expected to fall within the first quarter of 2013. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has agreed a six month extension to fulfil the Initial Term obligation.

About the Stena Carron:

Stena’s new Drillmax Fleet of drillships are designed for year-round, harsh environment drilling in the worst possible conditions found in the Barents and Norwegian Seas.  These ships are DP-3 equipped and capable of drilling in 6.7 meter seas and remaining connected to the blow out preventer in over 11 meter seas.  The six 5500kW azimuthing, fixed pitch thrusters are powered by six 7400kW diesel generators.

The Handcross prospect is a large stratigraphic trap, similar to the nearby Foinaven and Schiehallion fields, which benefits from a number of geophysical anomalies interpreted to reflect the presence of hydrocarbons in Paleocene sands. Gross prospective resources are estimated internally by Valiant to be 180 million barrels of oil equivalent (net 162 mmboe).

Peter Buchanan, CEO, commented:

“We are extremely pleased to have secured a deep water rig to drill the Handcross prospect which is one of the most exciting high-impact wells in Valiant’s portfolio. We look forward to working together with our partner over the coming months to ensure that the well is delivered safely and successfully.”

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